Autism awareness at Alberlito

Autism is a taboo topic for many, but with the Light it Up Blue campaign, people worldwide were encouraged to speak up and light up the conversation.

This year marks the eighth annual Light It Up Blue autism awareness campaign and saw more than 3000 iconic buildings and landmarks in over 50 countries on six continents turn their lights blue for world autism awareness.

Netcare Alberlito Hospital, Ballito Autism Centre of Excellence (BACE) and Imbalito Hope College (IHC) joined forces in the name of autism and had an informative stand in the hospital last Friday to raise awareness.

Miss KZN and former Miss Ballito, Renalda Hoffman showed her appreciation for the work that the director of the BACE and IHC and psychologist, Nirasha Dhaniram, and her team have been doing with the autistic children.

“It is so inspiring to see the school and the work that the behaviour therapists do and I would like to support Nirasha even after my reign and volunteer at the school,” she said.

“We need to do more so that parents and society as a whole get to know more about autism. We are very grateful to the Lifestyle Centre and Netcare Alberlito hospital for their ongoing support and getting the message out there,” said Dhaniram.

“The key challenge is early identification and diagnosis so that the child can begin the early intervention programme, which is critical to a child making progress and living to potential,” she said.

Dr Basil Dhaniram said that autism is a lifelong complex condition that occurs as a result of disordered brain growth, structure and development and is believed to stem from genetic predisposition triggered by environmental factors.