World Autism Day: Stigmatising autistic children may worsen their development – expert warns
Stigma
By Christian Njoku
Calabar, April 2, 2020 (NAN) Dr Jacinta Okoi-Obuli, a Consultant Paediatrician at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH), on Thursday warned that stigmatising autistic children might worsen their mental development.
Okoi-Obuli gave the warning in Calabar at an event marking this year’s World Autism Awareness Day with theme, “The Transition to Adulthood.”
The World Autism Awareness Day is commemorated annually on April 2 to foster worldwide support and awareness for people living with the condition.
She said autistic children should be free to choose whatever they wanted as they had equal rights with other normal children, adding that they also needed special attention and schools.
The former Chairman, Medical Women Association, Cross River chapter, said for now, no one had been able to trace the cause of autism.
The consultant paediatrician however said that the condition was characterised by a person’s inability to communicate properly with others.
She said an autistic person might also have some forms of repetitive stereotyped pattern of behaviours caused by brain disorder.
Okoi-Obuli said a child who was autistic might exhibit traits like being antisocial, restrictive and used to a pattern of stereotyped behaviour like focusing on an item for an abnormally long time.
“Most of the autistic children are intelligent, just that they have this antisocial behaviours and are just stereotyped.
“They need to be supported socially both in education and healthcare like other normal children, in line with the United Nations (UN) convention of right of disable people into which category they fall.
“The main support they need is to encourage and give them special training in whatever they like doing so that they can cope with the society around them,” she said.
She added that there were support groups for autistic people in cities like Lagos and Abuja.
Okoi-Obuli called on parents with autistic children in Cross River to bring them to UCTH as there were specialists and training programmes to stimulate them and help them in their development.
Similarly, the Cross River Commissioner for Health, Dr. Betta Edu, said autism was a genetic disorder that affected the ability of a child to speak, maintain visual focus and several other symptoms.
Edu said the children might get irritated easily by noise and any other stimulant, adding that there was no treatment for autism other than managing the affected person all through life.
“What is important is for people to understand that these children have special talents. If you can identify one and help a child work on it, that child can become a star even with autism.
“So, it is not a cause for worry but a cause for special attention to the child to ensure that he or she is provided with the basic requirement for him or her to excel,” she said. (NAN)
CBN/CHOM/EMO
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Edited by Chioma Ugboma/Ejike Obeta