It’s Autism Awareness month, but what efforts need to be doubled?

Happy Autism Awareness Day!

Image from HealthPark Pediatrics

It is one of my favorite days on earth; I’ll tell you why. It’s the day when many put out content and reasons why YOU and everyone should know about Autism.

Today, I’m speaking about Autism awareness in rural communities. Autism is a disorder that makes an individual act a certain way from others; there’s the aspect of communication, the meltdowns where people liken to “tantrums” for years, The therapy, and the fact that early intervention could allow a child to progress better in life.

See post: Empower Voices For Autism

Early intervention means that after the detection of Autism in the ward or child’s life, there would need to be treatment. I’m not talking about blood samples or prescription of drugs; I’m talking about enrollment into special education, therapy, and lots of therapies.

Some people in the rural communities do not have the luxury of that.

My little Brother on the Spectrum

A little part of me would want to blame the parents for not understanding Autism, but they honestly don’t know what it is. They could be linking the disorder to different situations; something like Demonic possession and illnesses.

The truth is that, we need more awareness campaigns in the rural areas, and of course, non-governmental organizations are trying their best to increase awareness, like Solape Azazi, the founder of Cradle Lounge, who gave a speech at her local church on the understanding of faith and diversity.

But there is an urgent need for the Government to step into the situation of the management of Autism.

A lot of people know that there is little or no support from the government when it comes to special needs; I give them a thumbs-up for creating governmental schools, but let’s face it, how many teachers are properly trained to handle children with ASD?

See link: April 2023: Autism Awareness month 2023

How many understand what it means to be on the spectrum?

I cannot imagine the situation of the special needs families in rural areas. They may not understand the child’s behavior and link it to something else, the child may go through some awful things and eventually have to go into hiding, or worse, abandoned. My heart breaks for them because it’s a cruel thing to be misunderstood.

There needs to be more campaigns for that.

Let’s go the area of the church; no doubt about it, my country is very religious; we rely strongly on our faith; I’m like that. I rely on God for every aspect of my life. There are a million reasons why the church would need to know about various disorders because it increases ACCEPTANCE!

I originally wanted to write a post about celebrating the persons on the spectrum exceeding and progressing in life, but I wanted to write about this.

Do I have faith that everyone would have a basic knowledge of the TRUE knowledge of Autism? Not really, but do I think that everyone should? Yes.

See post: Films showcasing ASD

This just proves that we have so much to do.

To end this post, let me express my joy for all the persons advocating for the Neurodiverse community- for the school owners, mothers, neurotypical siblings, government workers, and media organizations; we will get our way and everyone on the spectrum will be understood and catered for.

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