Thinking In Pictures By Sadaf Shahid

Thinking in pictures



By Sadaf Shahid

I saw him sitting at the curb. Silent and still. Despite the cold December, what he was wearing, or rather was wrapped up in, could hardly be described as clothes. An unkempt, shabby beard covered his face. His hair, like dry twirled weed. Sometimes he would get up hurriedly and walk aimlessly about — completely oblivious to the mad traffic, the honking cars swarming all around him. Lost in a world of his own. Muttering to himself, echolalic and incoherent. Harming no one, his presence a source of suspicion and disquiet for all. Some may have taken him to be a terrorist or a spy incognito. To some, he was a beggar trying to earn sympathy and eke out a living. To the religiously susceptible, he was a sadhu, a malang, a fakir. Only I knew his secret. I knew who he was. He was none of the above. He was autistic.

A shiver ran down my spine. He was homeless and uncared for. There was nothing any one could do for him, and no one cared. Blaming providence for my knowledge, when ignorance was such bliss, I moved on, just like everyone else.

Autism is one of the most common developmental disabilities in the world, affecting approximately one out of every 166 children. Its prevalence rate makes it the second most common developmental disability — even more common than Down’s Syndrome. It occurs four times more often in boys than in girls. It is a lifelong disability with no known cure. The symptoms of autism tend to appear very early in life, usually within the first three years.

We don’t have estimates of the children diagnosed with autism in Pakistan but, thankfully, awareness is increasing. Children are now being diagnosed and enrolled into different rehab programs. Whether these programs are following a neurological and scientific approach or not, is another question. Nothing was known about autism until a few years back. Children with autism had little or no help. They were either diagnosed as mentally retarded or cases of extreme environmental deprivation. They were admitted into special schools for the emotionally and intellectually challenged. And finally, when they became self-injurious or so aggressive that their behaviour became socially unacceptable and the aging parents could no longer keep them at home, they were sent off to ‘residential facilities’ — or mental asylums.