April, the month of autism
Throughout the world, the 2 in April celebrates World Awareness Day on Autism, to seek improvements in the quality of life of people living with this condition.
The School of Special Education of the University of Azuay, together with Municipal Social Action, ADACAPIA and other institutions, were behind the organization of the event "Blue City for Autism", which had various activities throughout April.
On the 2 day the churches of Cuenca were illuminated with a blue light to start the campaign. On Thursday 26, in the Calderón Park and the Parque de la Madre, an informative area was held to invite the citizens to participate in the different activities.
On Friday 27, in the Inclusive Social Circus Park, there was a party for autistic students from all the special institutions of the city.
The activities concluded on Saturday 28 with an informative forum addressed to citizens in the Municipal Museum of Modern Art, there was a discussion with three parties to clear doubts to parents and give them guidelines to cope with the upbringing of a child with this disorder .
For María del Carmen Cordero, professor of Initial Education and professor of the chair of autism at the University of Azuay, it will not be possible to understand if it is unknown what autism is and without understanding there will be no way to help, which is why the The problem is not this condition, but the ignorance that society has in general.
Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects the child's cognitive, emotional and social skills and competencies. They are people who exhibit repetitive behaviors, as well as different degrees of difficulty in communication and social interaction. There are three levels of autism: mild, moderate and severe, which determines the intensity of the symptoms.
In some cases they may be sensitive to noise, smells, tastes, colors, caresses, textures, etc., which cause socially unacceptable behavior such as tantrums, shouting, jumping, crying, isolation, etc., which makes society believe that that behavior is the fault of parenting.
According to the World Health Organization, 1 of each 160 children has autism, the incidence is higher in males and manifests itself during the first three years of life.
Autism Speaks notes that there has been an increase in the prevalence of autism, but researchers are not sure if that is because there are better tools to detect it and, therefore, an increase in the number of cases is noted.
