World Autism Awareness Week starts today - but is it enough?
Today is the start of World Autism Awareness Week and a mother from Leicester whose daughter has the condition is urging more people to learn about it.
Pam Malhi, from Oadby says she and her daughter Aaisha regularly have to deal with stigma and stares. Aaisha was 18 months old when she was diagnosed with autism.
In this blog, Pam writes that while a week of awareness is positive, it isn't enough and more people need to try to get a better understanding of the condition.
Autism doesn’t just go away or disappear. You don’t outgrow it and it doesn’t get any better. It gets harder as they get older and it gets much tougher.
Children with autism are fighting a daily battle. They don’t understand the world like you and me. At times, it’s a scary and complex place to be. They want to run away but they have nowhere to go. They don’t see things the way we do. They don’t hear sounds like we do…. in their world, it’s louder with so many things happening at once. They can’t digest that amount of information at once.
Their anxiety and stress levels reach breaking point, but believe me they try harder than we will ever understand. If I had to make a comparison, I would liken it to an average British person going to a foreign country. We don’t understand the language, we don’t know how things work, we don’t know which direction we should take, we don’t understand why everyone is in such a hurry, why is everyone running around? Why are the cars all going in the opposite direction? Magnify this confusion by 10! This is a very slight indiction to what children with autism face every time they leave the safety net of their home.
Simple things we take for granted can be extremely difficult for people with autism and, at times, painful. We don’t have all the answers. We don’t always get it right, but I promise you we do try.
I’m Aaisha's mother and I should know … well to be perfectly honest, I don’t always know. I don’t always get it right. At times I want to know what I need to do to get it right but there is no manual, no guide book, there is no magic wand and there is no miracle.
You see the smile on my face but what you won’t know is that I cried myself to sleep last night. You see us happily walking down the street but what you don’t see is the battle I had getting her out of the house.
You see her socialise but what you don’t see is that my eyes and ears are everywhere, making sure she doesn’t see something that could trigger a meltdown.
You will never see how many times it broke me…. you’ll never see just how many times I’ve hit rock bottom but what you will see each and everyday is my smile.
You can make this smile brighter and better, simply by learning more about autism and helping others understand autism.
That's all parents of children with autism need - for people to make the effort in understanding the condition. As a mother, I promise I’ll do the rest for Aaisha. I’ll help her, I’ll guide her, I’ll encourage her, I’ll support her, I’ll never give up on her and with your help in understanding autism, we can make the world a better place for all those living with the condition.
These are the views of mother Pam Malhi and do not necessarily reflect those of ITV News.