The very basic treatment of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder is sincere care and love. Please give them both sincere care and true loveJakarta (ANTARA News) - World Autism Day was commemorated in various cities in Indonesia on Saturday with a common message for better care and treatment of children with the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
Hundreds of people, including parents with autistic children and teenagers, jogged and walked together in cities like the national capital city Jakarta, Medan (North Sumatra) and Magelang (Central Java).
What they expected from the commemoration was that misunderstanding and misleading perception of children with the ASD in Indonesia put to an end.
Acting North Sumatra Governor Gatot Pujo Nugroho, who joined the commemoration of World Autism Day in Medan, underlined the importance of good care for those with autism as their best remedy.
"The very basic treatment of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder is sincere care and love. Please give them both sincere care and true love," Nugroho said.
The children with ASD in Indonesia are still not understood enough and even bullied by their peers and adult people in their neighborhood and, much worse than that, also by those running regular schools.
Despite the fact that autism has nothing to do with a disease, the children with ASD are frequently regarded as "insane" people by certain people in the society due to their ignorance and poor knowledge about them.
Irma, whose kid named Dava is autistic, urged the people-at large to change their mindset about children with ASD. Instead, they need to have a deeper empathy and care for the "special children", she said.
A day before World Autism Day, Irma and some other parents with autistic children gathered at a luxurious restaurant in Central Jakarta along with Indonesia`s outstanding actress and film producer, Christine Hakim, for launching a documentary film on children with ASD entitled "Love Me As I Am".
Those attending the launching of this 45-minute-long film were the parents of 12-year-old Emilio, whose paintings were highly praised by collectors, and Michael Anthony, a pianist.
Christine Hakim said the docudrama featuring the real life and great potentials of the children and teenagers with ASD in greater Jakarta was expected to start changing the society members` misunderstanding about them.
"Until this time, the image of children with ASD remains unfairly negative. Due to poor knowledge and misunderstanding, their families also like denying the reality of life. This docudrama is expected to change the people`s assumption on children with ASD," she said.
This UNESCO goodwill ambassador said autism was not a sort of ailment or mental disorder as psychologists and medical scientists thought. Instead, the children with ASD have extraordinary cognitive potentials.
With their given potentials, those children could bring good things not only for themselves, their families, and their neighborhoods but also for their country if they were treated and educated properly, Christine Hakim said.
"With this documentary film, we hope there will be no more children with ASD who are isolated and regular schools which reject them. Education is the rights of all children," she said.
Sharing Christine Hakim`s views, the film producer, Dr.Ir.Ricky Avenzora, M.Sc.F, said the children with ASD who played in the film were indeed the "hope" of Indonesia because each of them had great cognitive potentials.
"Albert Einstein himself (one of the world`s greatest scientists-ed) is an autistic person," he said, adding that this docudrama would officially be shown to public on a TV station when Indonesians commemorated the national education day on May 2, 2011.
The high prevalence of children with ASD in Indonesia could bring excellent things for the nation if their great cognitive potentials were properly handled, he said.
As part of the efforts to create a proper understanding about and new awareness of children with ASD in the society, Ricky Avenzora said the film would be shown at a number of leading universities in different Indonesian cities.
"Besides showing the film, as part of our roadshows, we also plan to hold seminars and trainings for teachers and parents, and create caring community for those with ASD in such targeted cities as Medan, Padang, Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta, and Makassar," he said.
Through the roadshows, the campus community members in Indonesia were expected to pay more serious attention to academic studies on children with ASD and start building collaborative research activities among themselves, he said.
Gading Pluit Hospital`s Consultant Neurologist Andreas Harry who financially supported this docudrama said the film was a chance to unite a new perception of the children with ASD.
Due to the scientific quality of its content, he said he was optimistic that the film was not only significant for Indonesia but also the world community members.
Changing the public misunderstanding about autistic children and creating a new awareness of the great cognitive potentials of those "special children" is not an easy work.
But, as Christine Hakim believes, with persistence and massive efforts of all stakeholders in Indonesia, the children with ASD in the country can be treated as they should be. They have the rights to be "loved as they are"!.
(R013/H-YH)
Reporter: Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
