By Mandi Chinyere
AS Zimbabwe celebrated its 44th Independence this April, it is prudent to also remember the month as one that the World also celebrates those who live with Autism. April marks Autism Acceptance Month, with World Autism Day occurring on April 2 every year. Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is not a disease; therefore, it cannot be cured, rather, it is a condition that needs to be managed through therapy interventions for the affected individual.
ASD is a developmental condition caused mostly by genetic factors, which medical researchers suggest, contribute to about 80-90 percent of cases, while environmental factors also may play a role leading to ASD. As such, especially in the third world, most people have little or no knowledge at all regarding what autism is, yet they have children, brothers and sisters who live with the condition unknowingly.
The condition is mostly associated with early signs are such as little bubbling or no bubbling when they are at baby age, hence when spoken with they can also appear as if they are not hearing when spoken to directly. They get frustrated easily or they have so much anger that sometimes they throw things, hence this is because their difficulty in expressing their feelings or emotions, or the lack of communication, because of the speech delay. A baby is expected to sit, crawl, stand, walk, and talk at a certain age, but for kids with Autism condition their childhood can be bit delayed than expected for a normal child growth. Most parents turn to ignore the signs of their kids when they are toddler age, up until they are at the age where there are expected to talk. Rather unfortunately therefore, parents miss these early indicators of Autism in infancy.
ASD may go to the extent of presenting behaviour patterns in kids such as, disliking being around many people, resisting to be cuddled and the fear of being gazed at. Children with autism have no social interaction with other kids, they quite enjoy playing alone. Most parents with autistic children tend to pick the condition up on their kids because of speech delay, since it normally affects the verbal communication, they use non-verbal communication like gestures, leading to problems with communication and interaction, hence they have a different way of learning, moving, or paying attention. Since the condition can manifest differently from one individual to the other, the kind of support that one needs varies.
Since autism has been around since time immemorial, the more the awareness, the better the solutions for those affected. It will go a long way in efforts to mitigate the negative repercussions of the condition if everyone has enough knowledge. More awareness is needed for African mothers, in particular because of the myths associated with these so called “Western conditions” such as autism. Those born with the condition often bear the brunt of stigmatisation perpetrated by society out of ignorance. This, therefore, calls for massive investment in human capital development, such as specialised school teacher training, so that they get proper training on how best to handle children with autism. In Zimbabwe there are very limited schools that cater for kids with autism, and they are beyond the reach of many owing to their exorbitant fees. In most cases people end up sending their kids to normal schools which then fall short on equipping autistic children with the relevant curriculum. Therefore, government need to facilitate and built schools to cater kids with autistic, since only private school are offering these facilities, thus making them very expensive.
Although people with ASD may find it hard to understand how other people think of feel, find things like bright lights, or loud noises overwhelming, stressful or uncomfortable, get anxious or upset about unfamiliar situations and social events, by taking long to grasp information, hence they can live normal life, with the right support and resources. Early intervention, education is the key factor in helping people with such condition and also the support from the community. Autistic people are able to kids of their own, can become parents, but they need extra support.
According to a study published by Autism Adulthood in 2021 there are capable of raising healthy, happy family. In terms of careers, they can be able to find any rewarding employment in any fields they desire, ranging anywhere from health care and technical services to education and retail, hence many people who are autistic are successful people. This includes entrepreneur and business magnate Elon Musk, scientist and noted autism spokesperson, Temple Grandin, actor, and comedian Dan Aykroyd, and even Nobel Prize winner Dr. Vernon Smith.
In 2021 Elon Musk, the multibillionaire co-founder of six companies and the owner of X told the world that he had ASD, and in his article, he said that when he was a kid his parents thought he was deaf. According to his mother, he was introspective at his young age.
Overally, there is need for more awareness programmes, so as to demystify the stigma that is associated with people living with autism, particularly children who end up being concealed by their parents away from the public. However, in Zimbabwe there are organisations such as the Safe Haven Zimbabwe, which have been offering support to parents of children with autism, hence more of like-minded organisations are key so that more facilities are made available in Africa at large.