NGO embarks on autism awareness campaigns

WE have embarked on monthly autism awareness activities to engage communities and give individuals opportunities to fully realise their potential, says Mulenga Autism Foundation (MAF) executive director Joseph Kabali.

Autism, or autism spectrum disorder (ASD), refers to a broad range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech and nonverbal communication.

Speaking during a community discussion at Saint Paul’s Catholic Church in Lusaka’s Chipata compound, Mr Kabali expressed hope that the awareness would create concrete foundation and yield a Zambia that gave individuals opportunities to fully realise their potential and a country that would not stigmatise them. “MAF was founded after seeing the challenges that parents and families with children living with autism go through. These challenges range from difficult access to health, education and social support systems,” he said. Mr Kabali said the most important function of MAF was to give awareness to parents and guardians alike of the existence of Autism and to encourage parents to seek assessment and therapy interventions early in the child’s life. “MAF knows parents need emotional support. Therefore we encourage communities to form support groups where parents and care givers can come together to interact and know they are not alone,” he said. Mr Kabali said the foundation was there to share and hear stories of the challenges that different families were going through in raising children with Autism and also hear success stories from those that attained milestones in their children’s developmental journey. He said support groups, were a foreign concept to culture was very important in fostering acceptance among parents and families.