14 ministries addressing neuro-dev disorders
Fourteen Bangladeshi ministries are coordinately ensuring rights of persons with disabilities, including neuro-development disorders (NDD) like autism, and their access to socio-economic activities like education and employment, said National Advisory Committee on Autism in Bangladesh Chairperson Saima Wazed Hossain yesterday.
She was addressing as a panelist the inaugural discussion, “Bridging the Inequality Gap (Goal10 of SDGs)”, of a daylong programme United Nations (UN) organised at its New York headquarters, marking World Autism Awareness Day, reports UNB.
One of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), Goal10 aims to improve and promote social, economic and political inclusion for all irrespective of age, sex, disability or religion to ensure inclusive socio-economic development.
On the moderator's query on effects of ongoing multisectoral approaches to autism, Saima said a massive countrywide awareness programme has been running since 2009, says a message from the Bangladesh permanent mission to the UN in New York.
Statements of her mother Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Sonia Gandhi of India at an international conference on autism in Dhaka in 2011 prompted people into addressing the disorder, she said.
Rural institutions, including social service centres, community health clinics and development organisations, are reshaping services and programme to reach autistic persons and their families, said Saima, member of World Health Organization's (WHO) Advisory Panel on Mental Health.
Parental meetings, training for doctors, field-level health and social workers, education delivery etc are taking place in a coordinated way and now the issue rests on policymakers, parliament members and government officials, added the renowned school psychologist.
“Everyone is now recognising that they need to do something differently...in evolving creative and innovative ideas,” she asserted.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, in a video message, said SDG's main aim was inclusive development leaving none behind. Author of “Neuro Tribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity”, Steve Silberman presented the keynote.
Presenting the keynote of a seminar, “Facing Autism: Strategies of World Community in the Light of SDGs”, there in the afternoon, Saima said Sheikh Hasina, the Bangladesh government and Awami League were very much sincere in fulfilling commitments to ensure the rights and wellbeing of persons with disabilities.
Saima was also a moderator of an event, “Elimination of Disparity” organised by Bangladesh, India, Qatar, South Korea and “Autism Speaks”, a US-based autism advocacy organisation, BSS quotes a press release as saying.
She said Bangladesh ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Optional Protocol. The government took the initiative to form South Asian Autism Network (SAAN) and the lead in adopting the first UN General Assembly Resolution on Addressing the Socioeconomic Needs of Individuals, Families and Societies Living with Autism Spectrum Disorders and other Developmental Disabilities on December 12, 2012, said Saima. The constitution recognises rights of the population's vulnerable segments and a national policy on disability was first adopted in the mid-90s, she said.
In 1999, a semi autonomous body called the National Foundation for Development of the Disabled Persons, or Jatiya Protibondhi Unnayan Foundation, was established, she added.
In 2001, Bangladesh enacted the first law concerning persons with disabilities and set up an inter-ministerial taskforce on disability, slowly meeting the standards and objectives of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), she said.
In 2013, the Disability Welfare Act was made compatible to CRPD and the National Neurodevelopment Disorder Protection Trust Act enacted, ensuring legal protection and institutional care, she added.
All early childhood centres are bound to include at least two children with disabilities, the education ministry has set up a National Autism and NDD Academy while National Theatre has begun encouraging participation in regular productions, she said.
NDDs have been given one-page coverage in the five year plan, 2016-2021, while, with limited resources, inclusion in national development efforts has been planned, she said.
“The PM is leading these efforts from the front. As a symbolic gesture, she uses the artwork done by children with autism for her official greeting cards,” she said.
Many autistic people truly cherish their unique traits and capabilities and all stand to benefit, she said.
It is important to acknowledge that it can be an ordeal emotionally, socially and financially for family members and it is rare to hear that a family remains unmoved, she said.
It is, therefore, crucial to comprehensively provide support and help develop understanding and acceptance, said Saima. The policies and programmes developed to support them should also take this approach as its main point of departure, she said.
Addressing the needs is not so much about increasing funds and infrastructure as much as it is about removing barriers and making inclusive policies, she said. It has become evident that mass awareness, backed by strong political will, can make a difference and making it sustainable requires supportive legislation, institutional framework and adequate service systems, she said. Challenges must be dealt with effectively with innovative, cost effective and sustainable planning, Saima suggested. “This, we believe, will be the key to realising the overarching objective of leaving 'no one behind' as envisioned by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” she added. “What we are trying to implement in Bangladesh, could provide a template for a global strategy for addressing autism in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SD63),” she said.
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