Public urged to understand autism

CEBU, Philippines - Life can always be better for children born with autism if everyone in the community will accept them as they are and will try to understand their special needs, according to Autism Society Philippines.

As Cebu celebrates Autism Consciousness Week, ASP appealed to the public especially to parents of Children with Autism (CWA) to give attention to the needs of these special children because they are also like everyone who have the right to live and to be protected.

The society revealed that for many parents whose children were diagnosed with autism, “it feels like your whole world has come to an end, all the dreams and hopes you have for your child seem shattered.”

It is a natural reaction to such devastating news, ASP said, but as parents, they should not stop caring for their child from there.

A normal life for a child with autism begins when his parents accept his special condition and find out what they can do for their child to have a better life. ASP said that many children with autism, especially with early intervention, make considerable improvements.

 Grace Adviento, ASP incoming president, yesterday said that the earlier the parents know that their child has this condition, the earlier they will be given education.

“Denying it will not do their children any good and overlooking this will just delay the development of their child,” Adviento said.

She added that as early as 18 months, a parent can already observe symptoms of autism in their child. Symptoms can include no pointing by one year, no babbling by one year, no single words by 16 months, no two-word phrases by 24 months or any loss of language skills at any time.

If parents can observe their child with no pretend playing, little interest in making friends, extremely short attention span and no response when called by name, parents are advised to seek their developmental pediatrician’s assistance.

Other symptoms of autism include little or no eye contact, repetitive body movements such as hand clapping and rocking, intense tantrums, fixations on a single object and unusually strong resistance to changes in routines.

Autism or Autism Spectrum Disorder is a developmental disability that severely hinders the way information is gathered and processed by the brain causing problems in communication, learning and social behaviors according to ASP.

It typically appears during the child’s first three years and is four times more common in males than in females. There is no one specific cause of autism known yet, but while there is no cure for autism, ASP said it is treatable through correct education and handling. One of 150 children worldwide is now being diagnosed with autism.

ASP-Cebu chapter head Sandra Espina said that their organization is now giving orientations to establishments like malls on the overview about autism and how these children with autism should be treated.

Adviento said that CWAs nowadays are fund of going to malls because of the many colorful things they can observe.

They have started orienting guards, food court tenants, managers and other staffs of SM malls on best ways of handling CWAs to prevent the same incident that happened in 2004 where a child with autism was lost for 12 hours in SM Megamall.

The management admitted the fault and said that the incident that may be caused by poor handling opened their eyes that customer service should be extended to differently abled persons like the CWAs. SM chain of malls is now considered one of the establishments in the country friendliest to differently abled persons.

ASP is also appealing to airlines to give equal treatment to CWAs following the incident in Hong Kong last Monday, when a couple with a child diagnosed with Down syndrome was asked to deplane because the staff of Cebu Pacific insisted that there should be no two special children allowed to board the plane at a time.

Adviento said that as far as they know, the rule only says that no two animals or no two mentally challenged persons should be allowed to board the plane at a time.

She said that the staff probably did not know the rules yet so they are willing to orient them to avoid such incident to happen again.

“The parents did not actually let the airlines put them in the next flight so that flight from Hong Kong to Manila was delayed by an hour. The parents are crying foul because they feel that they were being humiliated,” Adviento said.

Adviento also said that it has happened with the same airline several times already and they may also request other airlines to review their policies on handling the differently abled.

The Autism Consciousness Week kicked off yesterday at SM City Cebu entertainment plaza.

ASP has also organized an Autism Walk at 10 a.m. today with assembly at the SM parking lot. Espina said that everyone is invited to join the cause and other activities set for the whole week. — Jessica Ann R. Pareja/MEEV   (FREEMAN NEWS)