Daily Times

This year, the World Autism Awareness Day – 2nd April – is again being celebrated in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic that has changed our lives so drastically. Nevertheless, a large number of events are taking place online to create awareness about autism through webinars, trainings and conferences.

A Regional Conference on Autism was organized by Autism Welfare Trust in Lahore on 1st April to kick off a series of events for World Autism Awareness Month. The speakers were from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Pakistan. The zoom webinar was supported by livestreaming of the Conference on Facebook as well, providing access to hundreds of viewers.

Ms. Sabina Hossain, founder parent of Society for the Welfare of Autistic Children (SWAC) gave a detailed presentation on Autism in Bangladesh. She stated that Ms. Saima Wazed Hossain, daughter of the Prime Minister, was pivotal in her support and had made innumerable contributions for Autism, through not only pressing for specific laws and policies on autism in Bangladesh, but had also garnered international attention by tabling the Dhaka Declaration on Autism Spectrum Disorders at the UN.

Mr. Ugyen Wangchuk from Bhutan stated in his presentation that although the Bhutan Census did not show more than 3.5% Persons with Disabilities, a scholarly two-part study had shown that 21% of children between the ages of two to nine years suffered from some kind of learning and physical disabilities, and there are hardly any services available for autism. He also talked about the Gross National Happiness Index in Bhutan which had facilitated some policies on Persons with Disabilities in the country.

India was represented by Ms. Indrani Basu from Action for Autism. She talked about the development of autism in the last thirty years in India, how the legislation had been improved progressively, and how parents and organisations had been trained and empowered to provide state of the art facilities for children and adults with autism, including residential facilities such as Ananda in Delhi, and employment facilities in the corporate sector. She emphasized that only mass awareness about autism would help in reducing the stigma related to disabilities.

Dr. Ismail Shafeeu gave a presentation on autism in the Maldives, giving statistical data. He appreciated the role of Mrs. Ilham Hussain, wife of the ex-President of the islands, in setting up the Maldives Autism Association which is now providing all kinds of training and schooling facilities to autistic children. He lamented the dearth of trained professionals in the Maldives.

Dr. Sunita Maleku Amatya stressed the challenges that Nepal was facing due to the lack of awareness about autism and related disorders in the country. The Autism Care Society was created by parents in 2008, which has consistently lobbied for specific legislation on Autism, resulting in the National Disability Rights Act, 2017, which also provides for inclusion of children in educational institutions.

Pakistan was represented by Dr. Shazia Maqbool, Head of the Department of Developmental Paeds at the Children’s Hospital in Lahore, who pioneered the diagnosis of children with autism in 2003. Her presentation encompassed data on how the number of children diagnosed with autism is increasing in the country, and how much work was being done at the Children’s Hospital in providing diagnosis and therapies. She stressed the role of professionals and community health workers in early identification of children with disabilities so that awareness, training and interventions could be put in place.

The Presentations were followed by a lively discussion on the possibilities of regional collaboration for exchange of information and human resources for training and advocacy. The session was moderated by Rukhsana Shah, founder of Autism Welfare Trust in Lahore. The Trust has carried out extensive awareness raising programmes throughout Pakistan. It is managed by Dr. Salma Khalil in Karachi.