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(Children with autism are often misunderstood as 'troublemakers' and as a result mistreated. Change begins with dispelling misinformation and spreading awareness about the condition. FIT is republishing this story in light of recent events in Ghaziabad.)
Growing up, one keeps a close eye on their child’s development, right from day one. When will they start speaking, when will they start walking; there’s a chart for everything.
The same happened with Sharmita Bhinder. Speaking at an event, she narrated the ongoing journey of her younger son Manav, who has Asperger’s Syndrome. Asperger Syndrome exists as part of the autism spectrum.
She doesn’t want people to hear about him as a sob story, but with an attitude of equality.
Over time, they realised that Manav was physically slow, but his thinking abilities were much higher than an average child of his age.
She says he was brilliant on one side, but odd on the other.
There is a lack of knowledge and information around special needs children. Sharmita says that nobody is interested in them, we don’t accept them socially, and we only do charity work.
She wants to change that and has been working towards it through her NGO EmPOWER.
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Published: 06 Apr 2017,07:40 PM IST