April is coming to an end, Autism Awareness Month. Education in this area is necessary for all members of society to feel comfortable. Natalia Vodianova, founder of the Naked Heart Foundation, talks about what awaits people with an autism spectrum disorder in Russia.
For 13 years now, April has been celebrated as Autism Awareness Month. These days, the Light It Up Blue campaign is being held around the world: sights like Niagara Falls, the Pyramids of Cheops and the Sydney Opera House are highlighted in blue.
Autism was familiar to me long before our monument “Worker and Kolkhoz Woman” lit up blue. My younger sister Oksana has cerebral palsy, autism and intellectual disabilities. When Oksana was born, there was no question of any acceptance of people with developmental disabilities, the doctors suggested that the mother give up the child.
Misunderstanding, fear — we encountered them everywhere: in a store, a hairdresser, on a playground and in a clinic.
Many years have passed, we have all become more well-read, more patient, smarter, we are more open to people with disabilities. We learn to live without disgust, fear and condemnation, with an understanding of equality of rights and benefits for everyone without exception.
There are more people with autism than we think: the latest figures from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that ASD (autism spectrum disorder) occurs in one in 54 children.
Popular in the West, the concepts of «inclusion» and «inclusive society», meaning equality of opportunity for all people, regardless of their abilities and characteristics, can be increasingly heard in Russian today.
For me, this is a great joy and hope that inclusion will soon become a part of life, and not just a combination of letters.
Fortunately, significant positive developments are already taking place: in January 2022, Kazan will host the Special Olympics World Winter Games, in which athletes with intellectual disabilities will take part.
For Russia, such an event is a huge step towards an inclusive society, in which a person is evaluated based on his perseverance, strength, resilience and thirst for victory, and not contrary to his features.
And if inclusion becomes part of such an important area of public life as sports, then I have every reason to assume that it will soon spread everywhere! Accepting another person with developmental disabilities is sometimes hindered by fear, lack of information or its inconsistency. But by gaining more knowledge (and just by communicating more often), we will create a society in which everyone will be comfortable.