Charity pushes for better diagnosis of autism

| 02/04/2012

(CNS): The Cayman Islands joins the international community today (Monday 2 April) in marking World Autism Awareness Day (WAAD). To draw attention to the condition, which local experts say is often misdiagnosed and unnoticed by parents, the Special Needs Foundation of Cayman is teaming up with Cayman’s ARK, Camana Bay and Tower Marketing to join the ‘Light it up Blue’ worldwide campaign.  Around the world places such as the Empire State Building, Sydney Opera House, CN Tower, Niagara Falls and many other high-profile landmarks will ‘light it up blue’. Here in Cayman the Town Centre at Camana Bay has been shining blue.

Emma Donaldson, Administrative Director of SNFC, has been a part of the global policy and advocacy autism community for the past six years.  “Many children here in Cayman are not properly diagnosed and some parents are not aware of the signs of autism," she said. “The Special Needs Foundation is here locally as a source to provide this knowledge. We believe that all individuals with special needs should have a voice and be given the same opportunities as everyone else.”

SNFC and volunteers for Cayman’s ARK also have an information booth set up in front of the Discovery Center at Camana Bay until 4pm Monday.

“Our main objective is to help the community gain awareness for autism, as well as other special needs,” Donaldson added.

The Special Needs Foundation of Cayman (SNFC) is a charitable, non-profit organization providing support, information and education to families with children having special needs.  In addition to autism, SNFC also focuses on special needs such as: learning disorders, ADHD, anxiety, dyslexia, gifted learners, mental health and more.

See more details about the campaign below.

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Have we seen an increase in autism in the last 10 years? I wonder why?

  2. Caymanian/Expat family- all one says:

    Why cant we comment on the security center being hacked?  

     

    CNS: You can. Go to the full article on CNS Business. Follow the link.

  3. Anonymous says:

    My child went though 8 months of testing and counselling, meetings and evaluations before receiving a diagnois of PDDNOS. As parents we were actually relieved hoping that we would now be able to get help and have access to some sort of programme. Imagine our suprise whn not only did we not receive help but the diagnosis was then withdrawn and our child advised to just sign up for normal government school and we were assure "everything would work out fine". Well it hasn't "been fine" but we can't get the care our child needs without the diagnosis. Why put us through all of that only to leave us treading water in the deep end of the pool?

    These services are great IF people can actually get to use them. We can't afford the extremely expensive specialized teaching our child needs and as a Caymanian we were told that suitable education would be provided for our child. So, what now?