Mum fights to comfort autistic kids

REFUGE: Svitlana and family

A MUM is offering specialist support to help autistic children in Ukraine cope with the war.

Anna Perekatiy runs the Start Center in the western city of Lviv, which is a key transit spot for refugees fleeing to Poland and other neighbouring countries.

She has a 12-year-old autistic son and says similar children are likely to struggle when trying to process the horrors of conflict.

Anna, 34, said: “Parents with children with disabilities and autism are now facing double challenges. After a few days spent in a bomb shelter or night air-strike alerts, most parents decided to flee.

“It is difficult to explain to a child with autism why he or she needs to go downstairs to a bomb shelter in the middle of the night or keep the light in their home turned off, or why there are so many unfamiliar faces around.

“These children usually need more privacy and more space for sensory activities.

Shocking

“They perceive the world differently. Loud sounds and unfamiliar environments could be shocking for them.

“Many families had to take overcrowded evacuation trains where the light was turned off due to security concerns and that caused big troubles for such children.”

Anna opened the centre in Lviv a year ago. Before the war she supported around 150 children. Currently, around 30 are there.

Many have been displaced from their homes, like autistic 13-year-old Petro, who is from Kharkiv 600 miles away. He has spent time there with his mum Svitalna, 42, brother Mykhailo, 20, and nine-year-old sister Mariya.

British charity worker Joe English, UNICEF’S spokesperson in Lviv, said there is a grave child protection emergency in Ukraine.

He added: “For those who remain and those who flee there is a desperate and urgent need for the guns to fall silent, now and for good. Every child needs peace.”

To support UNICEF’S work in Ukraine, visit unicef.uk/ ukrainedonate