MY FINANCIAL ADVISOR SUPPORT TO AUTISM AWARENESS
In March 2006, MFA decided to take up the cause of Autism Awareness as its social responsibility. For this cause MFA has been actively helping through supporting the Forum For Autism which is a parents support group for children with autism in Mumbai in its programs.
DO YOU HAVE A GOOD IMAGINATION?
- Imagine if you wake up one day and cannot understand what your mother is saying to you, no matter how loudly she shouts or how wildly she gesticulates!
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- Imagine if you could hear the explanation of the teacher, the whispers of the girl in the far left corner, the screech of the chalk on the blackboard, the drone of the traffic on the road outside, the chatter of the children in the next classroom, the whirr of the ceiling fans in your class and the classes below and the pitter-patter of the raindrops, the wub-wub of your own heartbeat – all of these with equal loudness and at the same time!
- Imagine if the colours and patterns of a book, newspaper, piece of clothing or a billboard, are so bright that they hurt your eyes and make you see stars every where you look.
- Imagine if an orange felt like jelly, smelt like cheese and tasted like saccharine to you one day, and the same orange felt like a walnut, smelt like fish and tasted like kareyla to you the next day!
- Imagine if you could recite Sanskrit shlokas or sing thousands of songs, but couldn’t ask for a glass of water when you are thirsty!
This is what people with autism experience every single day of their lives. |
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HOW WOULD YOU DEAL WITH ALL THIS?
Chances are,
• You would prefer to do only things that you were sure of
• You would have fixed routines, so that you would never be caught unawares
• You would be averse to trying out new things food, clothes, TV programmes…
• You would resort to nerve soothing behaviour like repetitive rocking, spinning, humming – anything to put you into a meditative trance that will shut out the chaos of the outside world.
• You would be slow to answer questions or prefer to ignore the person questioning you
• You would shut your eyes and ears to the onslaught on your senses
• You would avoid contact with the interactive, ever changing, socially active world and if things got out of hand, you would scream your protest because it is the surest way to get people to try and do things your way |
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HOW DO THEY COPE?
Autistic people cope in exactly the same way you would.
Yet, this completely natural coping behaviour of theirs is called bizarre, asocial, obsessive, compulsive…. they are pronounced misfits in our orderly world, which, ironically, is ever uncertain, ever changing, ever chaotic!
And all the time, these brave and sensitive souls strive their entire lives to learn socially acceptable behaviors in spite of their debilitating condition and make superhuman efforts to try and fit in – at home, at school, in the playground, at work. |
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WE BELIEVE THAT THEY DESERVE BETTER. DON’T YOU?
‘As supporters of children afflicted with autism’
we witness their struggle to fit into a world that is unaware and therefore uncaring and even hostile towards their efforts.
Forum for Autism aims to create this much-needed awareness in an attempt to eradicate the apathy towards people suffering from Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Join hands with forum for autism to secure a future of dignity and self worth for autistic people.
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HOW MANY PEOPLE SUFFER FROM IT?
• Very little is known worldwide about what causes autism. What we do know is that there is no cure for the condition and the person afflicted with this disorder has a normal life span during which his / her struggle to make sense of the world and try to fit in is unending.
• Statistics show that as many as 1 in 150 people all over the world are autistic. By present population figures, as many as 2 million people in India are autistic and 24000 plus newborn every year.
• Autism can afflict any person from any nationality, race, community, religion and economic background.
• However, it is four times more prevalent in boys than in girls.
• Autistic people invariably get diagnosed as merely mentally challenged or worse, just mentally ill. Awareness levels in India are so low that autistic people are often misdiagnosed as Attention Deficit and Hyperactive or even Schizophrenic. |
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