By Oliver Nweke
The Ike Founadation for Autism (IFA) celebrated its 2022 World Autism Awareness Day (WAAD) in Abuja and called for more collaboration among stakeholders in the disability community, private sector and various groups.
The Foundation also called on the government to increase the allocation and funding for disability matters.
The Director , IFA, Mr. Mohie Francis Oko made the call during an event organize by the foundation to mark this year’s event with the theme: ‘Inclusion in the Workplace’.
The World Autism Awareness Day (WAAD) is a day set aside by United Nations for nationals and groups to focus attention towards and create awareness on the obstacles that people with autism face every day.
As a major global health issue, autism needs to gain more understanding.
Each year, World Autism Awareness Day is celebrated on April 2 globally to spread awareness about Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), a neurodevelopmental disorder that distorts the communication and social interaction skills of a person.
The symptoms of ASD can be detected before a child reaches the age of three years old, and the disorder is mainly caused by genetics and biological differences in brain development.
However, the disorder can be effectively dealt with if the patient or parents seek medical help as soon as possible after the diagnosis.
The Director said” IFA is working with selected schools in FCT to mainstream children with autism.
We do this by awareness, seminars and training for teachers and non-teaching staff of selected institutions.
We discourage maltreating a child , physically or emotionally. We encourage inclusive education and allow children with disabilities to mingle freely with other children.
This help develop such child and prepare him/her to thrive in the society as he grows older.
“Religious groups have a lot to do to assist persons with disabilities. Children with disabilities are not possessed. The religious leaders have to preach and teach how the society should treat such children and their families with empathy and accord them their rights.
“We need collaboration within NGOs and CSOs in this regard. Ike Foundation for autism is open for collaboration and support in this regard.
Ike Foundation for Autism (IFA) was founded in 2008 with its main objective to carter for families and children with autism and other related disabilities. We use four operational pillars as tools for engagement under the acronym HEAL.
H – stand for health. In this we focus on medical referral, diagnosis and referrals and we do that with ministry of health at the National Hospital, we have our clinic there.
Every Tuesday is our clinic where we go to do assessment for our children. On identifying children in the spectrum, then next moves to the next pillar E
E – stand for education. It focuses on early intervention, because early intervention is key.
We use different and effective teaching methodology with focus on ABA, meaning Applied Behavior Analysis.
In this we focus on behavior modification for identified cases and other functional and learning skills in preparation for mainstreaming to enable them have access to regular education and curricular.
A – Stand for awareness. IFA engages in intensive and adequate awareness, because in this part of the world the awareness on autism is very low, which have led to prejudice rather than empathy.
There are lots of misconceptions and myth associated with autism. Families of persons with autism are being stigmatized and not accommodated in public places. Many believe that a child with autism is possessed, we are here to advocate for them. They need a voice to advocate for them.
The government need to come to our aid and the aid of the persons with autism and their families.
Its very expensive to afford therapy, a lot of families are low-income earner, they cannot afford therapy not to talk of managing the condition, so families are left to fate and wallow is pain.
So, government support cannot be overemphasized. These supports are both financial, emotional, psychological and otherwise.
L – stand for learning. IFA focuses on research and capability building. We have developed a functional and organized system that train and retrain stakeholders, be it parents, caregivers, teachers, therapists, medical practitioners and so on.
The level of knowledge in managing autism is low, so IFA is aimed at developing capacity among all. When parents and the society is uninformed and unaware of the needs and ways to manage someone on the spectrum, it becomes difficult and challenging for both the child and the family to cope.
“Talking about the society, there are a lot of myth associated with autism. When a child with autism is misbehaving, to the layman the child has demon possession.
Cultural and regions barriers are serious and the knowledge gap is large. In West Africa, a child with autism is always considered to be possessed.
In certain countries, children with autism are thrown into the beach for the gods. A child with microcephaly in a West African country was thrown into the evil forest by parents and relatives. This is a bad experience, and it happened because of lack of awareness and cultural believe. So rural communities need be informed of the need for empathy, care and support.
“IFA is working with families and children with autism, we have had wonderful experiences of children who have achieve great strides and successes after therapy and education. We have a long list of persons with autism who have made exploits and are doing very well in the society. So, what the society needs is awareness, education, society acceptance, empathy and not discrimination or prejudice.
“IFA is out today to create more awareness, reduce stigmatization and seek for the communities and the government support.
We are here also to celebrate the families and children with autism. When these children are given the right support, you cannot believe what they can achieve ion life.
A child with autism about 15 years ago, with early intervention and awareness to the parents, the child today has an art gallery that is one of the best in the city of Lagos.
He is making money and contributing to the socio-economic development of Nigeria. This was a child that couldn’t speak, sleep and can cry all day.
We discovered the skill in him and we harnessed it and we are happy he is going places. Also, today we have a young man with autism who has been educating people on autism and telling us to stop the stigmatization, he is a success story.
If the parent and family didn’t care for him, we may not have this success. IFA is working on engaging him as a staff of the foundation. This will make him financially independent and contribute to both his family and nation development.
“We have CSOs, NGOs, and even the private sector like the GTbank being of support. We need more of the private sector support. Above all, the government support is key in alleviating the suffering by parents and families of persons with autism.
In developed countries the government takes full responsibility of such children. Same can be replicated here because the load is so excruciating for families. “