Today on the second of April, just a day after fooling the wits out of everyone, the world unites together to create awareness on Autism.
News channels here have been going into overdrive, bringing stories upon success stories from families who are coping with children with this condition.
Even though I personally do not know anyone with this condition, I would like to take a moment to pause, and spread this concern.
Autism has no known medical cause, can affect children in one of several bizarre ways, and so far, does not have a proven medical or therapeutic cure. But recent advances in therapy can assist in rehabilitating the person, and help them lead a better, if not complete life.
But one thing still bothers me…most of those ‘success’ stories on TV were from the United States. And as long as everyone knows the kid is autistic and is getting help, things are okay.
But what about the millions of others with this condition, who need help just as bad; but have no access to proper facilities? Have no money? Are stuck in a war zone?
CNN does not cover that.
Guess it’s up to each one of us to take this up and give a hand to those who we might know with this condition.
God save us all!
Labels: Stray thoughts
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5 comments:
One of my nieces is autistic. She is quite a clever girl and can recognize people around her. But sometimes, she stumbles into a stage of depression, which can become a cause for concern.
Now, your last two paragraphs come to be as Anti-American.
First of all, CNN is American and not a world channel and will obviously create content that is American. If it was BBC you would have seen British children and if it was Al Jazeera you would have seen more Arab children.
Secondly the treatment and management of Autism is prohibitively expensive.
In Canada, treatment and therapy for Autistic children costs between $30000 and $80000 per year per patient. This amounts to $2 million minimum lifetime cost per individual.
The federal and provincial governments do not fully fund the treatments. And average family cannot afford all this and for parents, who will do anything for their child, it ultimately costs them their homes and lifesavings.
American parents are less fortunate because insurance and liability for their autistic children comes from their own pockets.
Therefore each and every success story whether American or not is as important as the previous - to emphasize there there is hope and a future for their child.
Parents of autistic children require help themselves through consultation and support groups even if they cannot afford treatment for their child.
At times I think God is real impartial.
But still all I can do is to offer a prayer or two for such kids and for the parents.
@Jaffer
Guess you're right...sometimes I tend to get all anti-whatever; especially when it comes to the "I'll-poke-my-nose-into-your-country's-business" attitude of Americans :)
But anyways, the point was that these kids are okay so as long as ppl KNOW they are autistic and getting help.
What we need to do is raise awareness for ppl who are not so fortunate to be able to afford help.
@Arun
I'm not sure if its up to us to question the wisdom of God's creations; but I guess a prayer is the least we can do.
I find it pretty amazing, the amount of general medical awareness that people in the US do have. Whether it is becuase of the amount of the money that is drawn from their pockets for med insurance or because of CNN, watever it is..I think it pretty nice!! Although I must confess, that I have a considerable amount of selfishness while saying... U know wat I mean!
@wo(a)ndering mind
No, actually I don't...
You're not a doctor, so I'm confused abt the "selfishness" part of it.
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