Hundreds of thousands of the world’s buildings will light up in blue on Saturday to mark World Autism Awareness Day. The observance has been established by the United Nations and is currently at its 15th edition.
Autism is mainly characterized by its unique social interactions, non-standard ways of learning, keen interests in specific subjects, inclination to routines, challenges in typical communications and particular ways of processing sensory information.
The rate of autism in all regions of the world is high and the lack of understanding has a tremendous impact on individuals, their families and communities.
Over the past decade, major progress has been made towards increasing access to education generally, as well as for persons with autism specifically.
However, in 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the globe, a majority of countries announced the temporary closure of schools, impacting more than 90 per cent of students worldwide. The disruption in learning caused by the pandemic has reversed years of progress and has exacerbated inequalities in education.
Many students with autism have been especially hard hit and studies show that they have been disproportionately affected by disruptions to routines, as well as services and supports that they rely on.
That is why, the UN marks the day this year with debates on inclusive education for children with autism and combating discrimination against persons with autism in the workplace.
The Ecumenical Patriarch sent on Saturday a message of support for people with autism and all those who help them, calling upon every human being in good faith to join in the blessed endeavour of understanding, accepting and supporting their fellow human beings diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.
“The value of man is not related to his abilities and social contribution, but to the fact that he is a “man”, created in the image of God and with an eternal destination. This is the core of the remarkable revolution that marks the birth of Christianity,” Patriarch Bartholomew emphasized.
There 30,000 persons estimated to suffer of autism in Romania, but only half of them are in the official records. 13,905 of them are children. Autism is the most common childhood disorder.
Photo credit: Facebook / Ancaar – filiala Iași (Primăria Iași iluminată în albastru în 2 aprilie 2017)
