A Voice for Persons with Disabilities

Today, December 3, is the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. I cannot believe it is December already. Wow! It is countdown to 2016 already, and if you are like me, you would have started taking for 2015 and planning towards 2016. All the best with that.

On Saturday, November 28, I was privileged to be at the third anniversary of a special needs center, Pison Therapy Center Ikorodu, Lagos State. Pison Center caters for the needs of children with different disabilities; they have children with Autism, Down Syndrome, cerebral palsy, microcephaly and other disabilities.

Recently, I also met the director of Cerebral Palsy Center (CPC), Mrs Nonye Nweke. The center caters solely for children with cerebral palsy. Mrs Nweke blogs on. www.zimuzondu.wordpress.com.  She writes about her daughter, and her experience with cerebral palsy.

                                               

In October, there was a lot of awareness for different disorders: autism, dyslexia, ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), Down Syndrome, and Cerebral Palsy. Did you hear about the new sesame street character that has autism? Her name is Julia, and she was introduced in October.

I am really glad that autism is gaining this much awareness around the world, especially in Nigeria. I personally believe that we have grown because of the level of awareness that autism has now. I know that more children are better diagnosed now because doctors are aware that autism is real among us; we have more people willing to work with children with autism because they know that these children can be more independent with therapy. So many benefits have come with increase in autism awareness.

On this international Day of Persons with Disabilities, I sincerely hope that voices will be raised for these different disabilities. I hope that there will be more awareness for the different disorders, and more people will get involved in providing a better life for the individuals that live with these disorders.

As Autism Gist with Adelola, I shall be playing my part. In 2016, I shall introduce "In Other News", a series of articles that talk about other disorders apart from autism. In other News will feature information on other disorders, people with the disorders, their families, and the people that work with them. We will also talk about different ways we can help them.

Let us take this gist a little further…