The foremost African financial institution, Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) Plc, has intensified efforts to support children and adults with autism in Nigeria and other African countries by ensuring they live normal lives and become responsible citizens.
The bank’s group Chief Communication Officer, Mrs Oyinade Adegite, made this pledge on Thursday in Lagos at a media briefing to announce this year’s edition of the bank’s annual autism awareness and support programme scheduled for between Tuesday, July 15 and Wednesday, July 16, at Muson Centre, Lagos.
Autism, also referred to as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), according to medical experts, is neither a disease nor an illness but a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects how people living with the disorder interact with others, communicate, learn, and behave.
The condition, which is not curable, can be diagnosed at any age, but symptoms generally appear in the first two years of life.
According to the World Health Organisation, one in 100 children ( which is about 61.8 million) globally lives with autism and with more males than females. In Nigeria, the condition is hardly diagnosed and rarely understood, and children with it often suffer neglect and stigmatisation even among family members.
Giving details of this year’s programme, the 15th in the series, Oyinade gave the theme as “From awareness to action: 15 years of advancing autism inclusion.”
According to her, the theme is designed to, not only promote inclusiveness, self-advocacy, and empowerment for persons on the autism spectrum but also for action taken on the knowledge gained.
She stated that the company would take a similar campaign, which is part of its social intervention innitiatives, to other African countries, including Ghana from Monday, 21st of July and that the free one-on-one clinic consultations would open from July 17th to 19th at Adeyemi Bero Auditorium, Alausa secretariat, Ikeja, Lagos.
She noted that no fewer than 5,000 families from across the country have benefitted from the programme directly since inception 15 years ago.
She said the joy of the company is that the programme is not only expanding but yielding great results and that the support would continue.
She pointed out that GTCO would continue to support children with autism with inclusive quality education and their adult counterparts with well- equipped vocational centres.
According to her, everyone has something special to offer and we want to help individuals with autism succeed and live a fulfilled life.
“And that is why we believe that by working together as stakeholders, we can all build a society that values diversity, promotes inclusion and empowers everyone to thrive,” she stressed.
In their own contributions to the event, some of the behavioural experts and panellists were billed for the two-day event, and some had children living with autism, including Mrs. Osezusi Bolodeoku and Mrs. Solape Azazi. Getting the right knowledge and support on time would greatly help persons with autism to manage the disorder effectively and their family members to live positively and happily with them.
They said since they gained knowledge and understanding of autism through the past editions of the programme, they have been advocating for society to accept, accommodate and support people with the disorder.
They urged parents who have children living with the disorder and have no knowledge of this health condition to take the advantage of the conference to equip themselves with the right knowledge and support that will enable them and their children to live effectively with the reality of the disorder.
They said people living with the disorder if given the right care on time and support can attain greatness in any field of endeavours.
They, however, commended GTCO for providing the platform of this nature hat impacting
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