The Gleaner - 'Autistic children are suffering' - Canadian man hopes to bring wind of change
November 26, 2012
While pointing out that Jamaica is replete with "anecdotal stories" of abuse being meted out to children affected by autism, a father is calling for more to be done to rescue these children. With this in mind, Richard Phillips is on a drive to "develop a national programme" to educate teachers on how to deal with children affected by the condition.
Phillips, a Jamaican by birth who also has a son affected by the condition, said he is in dialogue with overseas entities who have expressed interest in funding a programme to help rescue these children and shed the stigma attached to the condition. Coupled with the "anecdotal stories" he has read in the local papers, Phillips said his passion to bring about change is also fed by personal experience.
HURTFUL LABEL
Richard's son Liam
"I have been in Jamaica with my son and I have heard children call my son a fool. They looked at him and said him 'fool-fool' and that hurts. "What I saw for myself was this: a parent was picking up a child from school, the child has the condition, the child was unruly and the parent slapped the child in the face repeatedly in front of me. It must have been a dozen times on his face. These children are suffering for the way they were born into this world." "If we can ignore the rights of these children, if we turn our backs on these children now we will suffer for this," he argued.
Co-founder Richard Phillips meeting with Minister of Education, Ronald Thwaites on behalf of the LIAM Project.
A key part of his mission he said is to have enacted in the curriculum of tertiary institutions, mandatory training for teachers to equip them with skills to work with children affected by the condition. "We are looking at, primarily, the student teachers before they graduate. What I have asked the Minister of Education (Ronald Thwaites) for is assistance in the regulatory (aspect). We are looking at a regulatory condition that says teacher should have this training before they start working," he said.
"We can have new teachers who are coming out learn the principles. If we have a thousand every year in Jamaica graduating, by the fifth year we will have 5,000 teachers in Jamaica who will at least give these children a chance," Phillips reasoned. He said it is his hope that he will be able to get a national programme off the ground by next year.