April is World Autism month. April 2 is observed worldwide every year as World Autism day. This year the theme was to focus on empowering women and girls with Autism. Awareness, acceptance of diagnosis and receiving proper care at the right time can help ensure proper treatment of children with autistic disorder.
Children with autism often find it difficult to interact and communicate with others. They avoid eye contact and are intolerant to sound. Some have behavioural problems and parents often find it difficult to take such children to public places as they often attract the attention of the people around them, by their behaviour. Such children excel in different fields like music, arts and math. They are often multitalented and their talent should be identified at an early stage and encouraged. Perhaps these children should be accommodated in regular schools and taught along with normal children to help bring them to the mainstream.
Although there is no medicine to cure this condition, often children who have extreme behavioural issues are treated with medicines to calm them. The actual cause of autism is still unknown as different researches give different explanations varying from it being a genetic disorder to it being because of rubella during pregnancy. As there is an alarming increase in the number of autistic cases, more research should be done in this direction and an awareness created on how this can be curbed.
Some eminent people who had shown symptoms of autism were Albert Einstein, Mozart, Isaac Newton and Michelangelo. These people have made a name for themselves and excelled in their respective fields despite being autistic. This is encouraging for children who fall in the autistic spectrum. Let the world be more tolerant and accept all children wholeheartedly.
- The reader is a logistics manager, based in Dubai.
