Asha Bora, secretary of Swabalambi, a society for rehabilitation and training for persons with disabilities, distributes ginger to differently-abled persons on Monday. Picture by UB Photos

April 2: The cause of autism brought together people from different walks of life today.

Young and old alike could be seen pledging their support to autistic children on World Autism Awareness Day by participating in a run titled Run for Autism that began in the Assam Engineering Institute field at Chandmari and ended at Nehru Stadium.

The run was organised by the Assam Autism Foundation, a city-based organisation working for the welfare of autistic individuals.

Actress Zerifa Wahid, actor Utpal Das, body-builder Mahadev Deka and cricketer Zakaria Zuffri participated in the run.

Several children toed behind the adults in a long line.

The excited smiles on their faces betrayed the fact that they are autistic, a pervasive developmental disorder characterised by impaired social interaction, communication and repetitive behaviour.

A cultural programme followed the run where these children, dressed in colourful attire, staged several dances.

The director of social welfare department, Rajiv Lochan Duarah, said, “Numerous children here suffer from autism, but even today the awareness level is low. Besides, there has been a gradual rise in its incidence, too, and this calls for special effort on the part of the government as well as society. While earlier, sufficient funds were not allotted for such individuals, now more emphasis is being given to their rehabilitation.”

“Moreover, differently-abled individuals are not in a state to take care of themselves. Hence, the caregivers should be well equipped to be able to attend to them well. Keeping this in mind, the state government has incorporated into this year’s budget a special scheme under which training will be imparted to caregivers. An amount of Rs 5 crore has been allocated for this scheme,” added Duarah.

At present, Kamrup (metro) and Kamrup districts are estimated to have over 300 autistic individuals.

The Foundation, the Child Guidance Centre instituted under the regional centre of the National Institute of Public Co-operation and Child Development and Uttaran are the only rehabilitation centres for the autistic here.

“While earlier, one in every 10,000 children was found autistic, now one in every 500 children is said to have autism. This will pose an immense load on public health and welfare services in the years to come,” Sabina Ahmed, the founder of the Foundation, said.

“What we need to understand is that though autism is a neuro-developmental problem affecting social and emotional communication, an autistic child is always gifted with hidden qualities that need to be developed. Since these children cannot attend regular schools, special care is required to develop their communication skills so that they do not remain secluded from society,” Ahmed said.