April is Autism Awareness Month and 2nd April is Autism Awareness Day all over the world. All over the world people try to create awareness of autism by wearing blue. Many buildings and iconic monuments are lit up blue in support of this cause.

Lourdes Convent High School at Saligao did its bit to create autism awareness, not only within the school but also in the surrounding community. Children were shown movies to educate and sensitize them regarding autism. An awareness walk was held by the school in the village of Saligao. The parents at the school’s Resource Room held an awareness walk in Porvorim, where they distributed awareness pamphlets to passers-by and local residents.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), commonly known as autism, is a disability in development that affects how a person communicates and relates to people around them. Children and adults with autism have difficulties with social interaction in everyday life. Their capacity to develop friendships is generally limited, as is their ability to understand the emotional expression of others. People with autism can often have learning disabilities, and all share a difficulty in relation to the world around them.

Autism is a term to describe the excess and behavioural deficits in three key areas that are known as the triad of limitations:

1. Social Interaction (difficulty with social relationships, for example seem distant and indifferent to other people, like to be alone);
2. Social Communication (difficulty with verbal and nonverbal communication, for example, do not fully understand the meaning of common gestures, facial expressions or tone of voice);
3. Imagination (difficulty in the development of interpersonal play and imaginary, for example – have limited imaginative activities, possibly copied and developed in a rigid and repetitive way). In addition to this triad, there is also some behaviour like resistance to changes in routine. Perhaps the most distressing feature of autism is the emergence of challenging and inappropriate behaviours. For example, self-aggressive behaviours and tantrums.

“I am the parent of a 15-year-old son with autism, he is a student of the Resource Room in Lourdes Convent High school. Over the years I have experienced firsthand the benefits of living in an environment of an autism-aware, autism-accepting and autism-including school and community. But this would not have been possible without the foot soldiers of autism – the special educators, assistants and teachers, whose efforts often go unnoticed. Being a special educator requires much more than an educational qualification, it requires someone who is willing to go above and beyond the laid out rules. They do not restrict their work only to teaching but go out of the box to create awareness among the public in general and the regular children of the school. Their prime objective has always been welfare of children with autism. On Autism Awareness Day, I want to commend and acknowledge the efforts put in by the special educators, and appeal to the general public to be more Autism-aware , Autism accepting and Autism-including.”

“Teachers of the Lourdes Convent Resource Room – Eunice, Heywel, Leena assisted by Faustin are working selflessly for the welfare of autistic children. They do not restrict their work only to teaching but go out of the box to create awareness among public in general and the regular children of the school. They treat autistic children as their own and do whatever a mother would have done for her child. In doing so they never bother to see how much they are earning. All of them have worked or are working on very nominal salaries. And their prime objective has always been the welfare of autistic children. They are really angels for parents and kids.” – A parent