By Amyra Varkisa & Jacintha Jolene
KUCHING: Autism awareness has increased over the years, and society is now more accepting compared to the past.
Minister for Women, Early Childhood and Community Wellbeing Development Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah said in the past, autistic children would be mistaken for misbehaving or having behavioural issues “which is entirely not true.”
“Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurological disorder and developmental disability, and the brain is affected resulting in many challenges – thus, autistic people may like to be alone and may show little interest in cultivating friendships.
“Besides, it is difficult for them to maintain eye contact, so they don’t look at people even if they are greeted. They also display strange behaviour such as rocking and spinning the body.
“In the past, parents were blamed (due to low public awareness) for failing to raise their children well despite the fact that their children have autism,” she said.
“This is why we need to educate the public, to understand what autism is, creating a more supportive and caring society instead of making parents and families of autistic children feel ashamed.”
Fatimah was speaking to New Sarawak Tribune at One-Stop Early Intervention Centre here (OSIEC) in conjunction with World Autism Day today, themed Inclusive Quality Education for All.
The Dalat assemblywoman, who is also grandmother to an autistic child, said she was glad that there was an increased awareness now.
“I travelled to Penang for a family vacation recently and one of my grandchildren is autistic so he was running around, including to some restricted areas so we apologised to the people around and told them that he’s a special child.
“Surprisingly, everyone understood this and told us that it was all right and it made us feel good that our special child is accepted by society.”
She said public awareness was crucial as the journey of autistic individuals and their families was tough. “Besides, autistic children deserve and need more love, care, support and understanding from the community.”
“Families with autistic children face a daunting task in bringing up their children who face many social, communication and behavioural challenges. It is time that society extends a helping hand to autistic individuals and their families, to understand them and ease their burdens,” she added.
“Instead being in denial, parents should seek help as early diagnosis and early intervention are crucial since the progress made will depend on the quality and time of intervention.”
She said early detection and treatment of children diagnosed with autism would enable therapists to manage these issues so that they would be able to attend mainstream schools once they reach seven years old.
She added that the increasing awareness of autism was also due to the efforts by autistic associations.
For instance, OSEIC was established to provide diagnosis, early intervention and rehabilitation for autistic, Down’s syndrome and learning-impaired children aged seven and below, and it has received positive response.
“We see more and more parents getting their children enrolled at the centre. As of Feb 28, there are 233 children registered at OSEIC, and majority of them are autistic.”
Fatimah also shared that the Special Needs Community Centre (SNCC) had been approved under the 12th Malaysia Plan, and a 29-acre land in Matang had been identified for the purpose and application was being processed.
She hoped that SNCC would provide a beacon of hope for persons with disabilities (PWDs) and their families as the Sarawak government was providing all the essential services from cradle to grave, all under one roof.
“Our vision is to have a caring and inclusive society where no one, including PWDs, is left behind.”
Fatimah also advised school-leavers passionate about teaching children, to futher their studies in therapy-related courses as Sarawak was facing a shortage of speech, physical and occupational therapists.
In Sarawak alone, there are a total of 15,547 people registered under the learning-impaired categories and the number includes 2,584 autistic cases.
