When Educators Walk to Support the Course of Autism
A group of educators recently commemorated Autism Awareness Month with a walk aimed at raising awareness of neurological and developmental disorders and sensitising Nigerians to champion equal opportunities and freedom for people with such disorders.
It has been a while since a group of educators and non-governmental organisations comprising The Learning Place Centre and Innovation Academy, Anthos House, neurological and developmental disorder, LightHouse for Autism, Patrick Speech and Languages Centre, Brainy Oaks Education Consultants, among others, decided to focus on inclusive education for children with disabilities. One such is autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a neurological and developmental disorder that affects how people interact with others, communicate, learn and behave.
They recently commemorated Autism Awareness Month, usually held in April, themed, ‘Aligning SDGs with Autism: Empowerment, Challenges and Victories’, to create awareness and sensitise Nigerians on the disorder to champion equal opportunities and freedom for persons with the disorder.
Members of the group were invited to symbolise unity for the cause and promote collaboration and teamwork, which would lead to the achievement of long-term goals.
They walked from St. Saviour’s School, Ikoyi, to The Learning Place Centre, Lekki, Lagos.
Speaking with journalists, Bolanle Adewole, the Executive Director of The Learning Place Centre and Learning Innovation Academy, explained the importance of collaboration for the walk, saying that the essence was to ensure that many more lives were impacted.
“We work with children with additional needs, and for us, we know that it is not what the centre can achieve on its own. The result will be achieved if we all come together and carry the whole mission as one,” said Adewole. “This year’s autism awareness walk was to create awareness because we realised that there is quite an amount of work to be done in the field. We also realised that a number of people are yet to hear of autism. For us, we believe that the
work is a continuous one.”
She stated that her centre has been advocating in one way and another to showcase the talents and skills of children with additional needs, so that they can grow up as independent as they need to be.
Adewole expressed concern that the group has been self-funding and has had to get involved in charitable work to cover much ground while calling on the government to develop policies and regulations that will oversee the centre to work effectively.
She added, “The percentage of autism in
Nigeria as of today is 2.9 per cent. So I think the government has to find better ways to support than they are already doing by putting much more in place and ensuring training support for parents of children who cannot afford the services. This is very important. The government should endeavour to put together programmes like a train-the-trainer such that if they train one person, the other person in the grassroots trains another, and it keeps going.
“A lot of parents want the best for their children, but they just can’t afford it and that is why you see them being frustrated, so it is very important that government comes to our support in terms of finances so that we can impact many people and cover many more grounds.”
The executive director stated that the collaborators plan to continue the initiative yearly, covering far-reaching locations and spreading the need for acceptance, accommodation, empowerment, employment, and functional independence.
In her remarks, the Executive Director of Anthos House and Chairperson of the event, Mrs. Lai Koiki, said people believe that autism is a disease and disability, especially for the rich, adding that it is a neuro-developmental disorder that can happen to anyone.
She stressed the need for the government to intervene to support parents, carers, and therapists.
“Some of these courses that we go through can be subsidised so that many more people can go into them, and there will be many more of them. Unfortunately, quite a number of them who are trained travelled abroad for greener pastures; but we will just keep creating the awareness. We need to continue to reach out to people around us for support.”
She expressed concern about stereotypes, saying that it is a human problem and that awareness shouldn’t stop.
“If life happens, it happens; you need to embrace it and keep moving forward, and for those who are not experiencing it directly, they should form a pillar of support for others because it is not easy,” Adewole stated.
She recalled when the journey started over 30 years ago, saying, “I run a school, and we realised that there are children out there who need to be in school, but they are kept at home because their parents are ashamed of them. It is a traditional mindset, so that was why we started bringing them into schools. We all have to keep learning and motivated,” Koiki stated.
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