KARACHI: International community is observing Friday 2nd of April, 2021 as the 14th annual World Autism Awareness Day.
Secretary General of United Nations António Guterres, in his annual message on World Autism Day stated that while the people join hands to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, a key goal must also be to ensure a more inclusive and accessible environment recognizing the contributions of everyone, including people with disabilities. He noted that COVID-19 had no doubt created new obstacles and challenges but offer an opportunity to re-imagine the workplace to make diversity, inclusion, and equity a reality.
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) could be explained as a developmental disorder characterized by behavioral and communicational affections that impact a person’s ability to handle social interactions. According to experts the word Autism was coined in 1911 by the psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler who had utilized the newly created word to describe a specific cluster of symptoms that were reckoned as symptoms of schizophrenia as an extreme social withdrawal.
Back in 1943 pediatric psychiatrist Dr. Leo Kanner characterized Autism as a social and emotional disorder. Next year Hans Asperger described autism as a disorder of normal children who have difficulties with social and communication skills. The notion of autism as a spectrum was developed in 2013 by the American Psychiatric Association. Someone suffering from ASD may face challenges of social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech and non-verbal communication.
United Nations General Assembly had set the 2nd day of April as World Autism Awareness Day on 18th of December, 2007 in order to encourage member states to take action in raising awareness about people with autism spectrum disorder. On this day people are motivated to encourage the research in this field. Interestingly, among other activities, millions of batiments all over the world are illuminated by blue light in a symbolic recognition of the people with autism.
Newspakistan.tv | YouTube Channel
