By Amyra Varkisa & Jacintha Jolene
KUCHING: As an autism trainer for six years now, Cherrie Valerie Chong shares that raising awareness and educating society as well as reducing stigma seem to be more challenging than taking care of autistic children.
The 32-year-old programme coordinator of Kuching Autistic Association (KAA) said there was still a lot of stigma and misconception about autism, including assuming all were the same.
She said autistic individuals were similar to neuro-typical people in which they had their own specific talents, hobbies, needs and preferences.
“We can’t tell or judge a person with autism by the way they look, hence another common stigma we usually get is when someone tells us that ‘they (autistic people) don’t look autistic at all’.
“This is where we educate the public that autism is a brain development disorder and in many cases, people with autism are not physically complex.
“However, some do have other comorbidities that will affect their physical formation, for example, autism with cerebral palsy, autism with Down’s syndrome, etc.”
Chong said misconceptions also came from people closest to the autistic children, including expecting them to progress and be on par with others.
Instead of saying, “I don’t see any progress in my child,” she hoped that parents and guardians would give more attention, appreciate and celebrate every single achievement made by their autistic children.
She added that other challenges she and her colleagues faced were advocating the importance of inclusive classes in neuro-typical schools.
“We want our special needs children, not just autistic, to experience being with neuro-typical peers and to receive the equal amount of education in ensuring a holistic development.”
KAA was set up in 1999 and moved to its present premises at Taman Desa Wira in 2014, providing educational and training opportunities for autistic children and young people through intervention programmes.
It also equip parents and caregivers of people with autism with coping skills and training skills through seminars and support group, as well as to develop public awareness of autism and promote community involvement and support for people with autism and their families.
KAA’s vision is to enable people with autism to achieve their full potential and to have independent and economically productive lives.
Challenges during Covid-19
Chong said autistic children required physical face-to-face sessions and many of them missed out a lot on skill building programmes during the pandemic.
“We were lucky that we got to reopen our centre after four months of being at home and doing online classes for our students despite them not being fully focused for 40-90 minutes.
“The other way of overcoming these barriers was to come up with weekly home modules, consisting of various levels of tasks to accommodate each of the children’s abilities. Besides, we also conduct weekly parent-teacher sessions to ensure that parents are also receiving the same amount of support from us.”
When asked about their biggest achievement over the years, Chong said it was when they received the good news from parents that their children were accepted by certain schools, which was one of the reasons that kept all the trainers motivated.
“For us, the goal (or slogan) ‘From Autism Awareness to Autism Acceptance’ can be achieved, especially in Kuching, where we join hands to support families with autistic children, creating a safe space for them to explore and most importantly, to receive the equal amount of education.”
