Light up in blue for autism awareness day
In South Africa, one child with autism is born every hour and only a fraction of a percentage have access to specialised care
WORLD Autism Awareness Day (WAAD) will be observed globally today with communities and volunteer organisations decked out in blue, holding high their dream to enable children with autism to flourish and reach their maximum potential.
This year world landmarks will light up in blue to show support for people living with autism, such as the Petra archeological site and the Red Bull Arena.
Autism is a lifelong developmental disability which manifests during the first three years of life.
The rate of autism in all regions of the world is high and the disability has a tremendous emotional, social and economic impact on children, families and communities.
Fund-raising and awareness campaigns aim to illuminate the plight of the growing number of people diagnosed with autism and underlines the importance of early diagnosis and intervention.
The Centre for Disease Control released statistics indicating an autism prevalence rate for 2014 at 1:68.
In South Africa, one child with autism is born every hour and only a fraction of a percentage have access to specialised care.
Individual speech and occupational therapy is crucial, but costly and treatment places many families in desperate financial need.
Many children are simply left untreated.
Formal education is often almost impossible because the child cannot be incorporated into the education infrastructure available in an area.
Locally, the ABLE Early Intervention Centre for children on the autism spectrum, situated in Meerensee, is one of only two facilities in KZN.
The centre focuses on intensive treatment of pre-school children on an individual basis.
This intervention is aimed at developing delayed skills and put them on the path to independence.
Early treatment has a great success rate and improvement is possible for a full and functional life.
The centre is a registered Non-Profit Organisation.
They are situated at 11 Galjoengolf, Meerensee and can be contacted at able.centre.rbay@gmail.com, or 083 6285572.
