SHARJAH Pakistani Syyeda Asma, 35, can’t remember the last time she went for a movie in her four years in the UAE. The last time she went out to a mall with her husband and four children – three of whom are severely autistic – she was left humiliated by a group of strangers.
As the world gets together to mark World Autism Day on April 2, Syyeda and her husband Sultan Ali, 46, only hope that there comes a day soon when her children are able to walk freely on the streets of this country without being jeered, laughed at or looked down upon.
“The government has done its best and continues to do things for the disabled in the UAE, but it is the society that has to turn up now. They have to be little more willing to accept such kids. They are not criminals after all,” says Ali who quit a $4,500 managerial job in the Zimbabwean capital Harare in 2011 to move back to the UAE in order to give his three special children the care they needed. “It took us over three years since to get them admitted to a special school. The waitlist to get into such institutions is often very long, but now that they are enrolled, they are getting along much better,” adds Ali who, however, has a much bigger problem on hand.
Fee burden
The fees for his three sons - Mohammad (also known as Qasim), 13, Mustafa and Faizan, both 10, run up to almost Dh12,000 a month while Sultan as distribution manager of a food products company in Dubai makes just about Dh13,500. “I am not saying that I earn less, but my expenses are more because of the school fees of my boys. In Zimbabwe, my kids virtually had no specialist care, but now when they are ready to get so, I am running out of ideas to continue giving them this education that they need,” says Ali who has been served final reminders by the schools for not paying fees on time. Ali, who also has an annual Dh40,000 rent for his 2BHK in Muweilah and his eldest daughter’s school fees to account for, says he has so far managed to pay off Dh62,000 to the two schools his boys go to after securing a personal bank loan, but is still short of Dh55,000 that will clear their annual fees.
“The boys can neither talk nor communicate well, so they desperately need special education at any cost, but our situation leaves us worried every day. We really hope someone will come forward to help our three little boys,” says mum Syyeda who previously taught Islamic studies and Urdu at an Abu Dhabi school before giving up her career to devote time to her three boys. Thankfully, she says she has an able hand in her eldest daughter, Zawanah, 13, a bright seventh grader at the Rosary School Sharjah who helps her take care of the three boys. “I really love them a lot and however they are to the world, they are still my brothers. What really hurts me is when people fail to understand their condition, that they too have emotions and they too need love and care. With more awareness I guess they will be loved a bit more,” she says.
Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by impaired social interaction, verbal and non-verbal communication, and restricted and repetitive behaviour. The conditions of the three brothers were detected at ages 6 and 9.
YOUSPEAK: What more can be done to integrate autistic kids into mainstream society?
