Cabbies come to the rescue
Taxi drivers volunteer by taking autistic kids on outings
PETALING JAYA: Sporting a mohawk and a thin, long pony tail, tough-looking taxi driver Shahrol Effendy Kamaruddin comes across as someone who is very intimidating.
But the children of the IDEAS Autism Centre would walk to and hug Shahrol Effendy and his nine other fellow drivers.
Not everyone would take time off work monthly to send autistic children to classes but these taxi drivers do just that and have won the hearts of the special children.
Two or three times a month, about 10 drivers from MyTeksi help to send the children, aged between seven and 12, to their destinations.
“When I was approached to do this, I didn’t know what autism was. I didn’t know the symptoms,” said Shahrol Effendy, 29.
This project came about in January after the centre’s principal Sharifah Saleh wanted to take the children out for swimming classes but had no means of transport.
MyTeksi then came on board, asking their drivers if they were willing to volunteer for the project.
Shahrol Effendy and his younger brother, along with other drivers, took up the opportunity to do something good.
The first few rides were daunting because autistic children do not like new experiences, which were not part of their routine, Shahrol Effendy said.
He said the children tore the road tax and stickers that they saw in the car. “It was frustrating at first. They were angry and uncomfortable and that happened a couple of times, but today we are good friends,” he said.
During one of the sessions, when the drivers send the children to an LRT station, the kids would identify the taxis they usually sat in and would casually walk up to the drivers they were familiar with.
“We play with the children and help the teachers look out for them, depending on which outing it is. We treat the kids like our own,” said Shahrol Effendy.
It is rewarding for the drivers – not just for the experience of being with autistic children but also for the friendship they forge among themselves.
“Every day, you drive a taxi and you sit in your own taxi without meeting other drivers.
“But today, this is my family,” said T. Mahadhevan of his fellow workers.