Autistics proving disability is not inability

Autistics proving disability is not inability

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s they swung on merry go round, Mr. Makewa observed that one can rotate the machine at the highest possible speed, the learner can stand without staggering or falling since his/her brain does not get disturbed by the circular motion.

The Kitui School for the Mentally Challenged and Autism Unit.  A long name and a big title.  No one knows better the responsibility belying this special school situated in the outskirts of Kitui town than the Principal Mr. G.M. Makewa. His is not your regular school. He is a steward of one of the most unpopular institution in the society. May be it is because he has a big heart.

            When we visited his school, the workers were sweeping the environment. The pupils were excited and happy. They smiled and greeted us. Clearly, there is a certain fondness the special children attach to guests however humble. They are not used to guests coming over and they don’t take it for granted.

          One unspoken rule of speech in this school is euphemism. The vocabulary is loaded with political correctness lest you hurt the fragile sensibilities of the learners. You cannot say retard. You say mentally challenged or handicapped. You don’t say dumb, you say verbally impaired.

          And so Mr. Makewa has mastered the art of customer relations. He is patient with his pupils. He listens to their murmured speeches and decodes their instincts. He teaches the mentally handicapped. He said his class is easier to teach than the autistic one because his portray clear and distinct behaviour patterns unlike the former which require advanced technique in teaching.

          The school was founded in 1987 and is a public one. Apart from the government funding, it accepts grants from well wishers who volunteer to support the needy children.

          While displaying a confident grasp of special education, Mr. Makewa classified the mentally challenged learners into three broad categories. The first is the Intelligent Quotient (IQ). This, he said his pupils are sub average therefore are termed as mentally challenged. Two, there is social adaptation. The learners have problems in adjusting to social settings they find themselves in. For example, they cannot differentiate how to conduct themselves in a church and in school or at home. To them, the environment and behaviour are uniform. Lastly, he said that the mentally challenged pupils must be under 18 years to be regarded so. He said that they study mental development of children compared to “normal” ones by way of observing growth and development milestones such as sitting, crawling and standing to determine whether the children are special.

           For the autistic class, Mr. Makewa referred us to teachers who studied the subject at the Kenya Institute of Special Education (KISE), the only one of its kind in the country. Meet Ms. Lucy Kibiru and Mr. Maurice Mutuma, the autism teachers and proud diploma holders from KISE.

          We were ushered by the two into the autism class in session. The autism block is new and hosts five classes from elementary to vocational level. The building was funded by the National Fund for the Disabled-Kenya (NFD-K). There is also a standalone class which is yet to be commissioned and is sponsored by the Kitui County Government.

          Mr. Mutuma said that the real cause of autism baffles scientists but they believe a number of pointers such as when the mother develops sickness during pregnancy and this may infect the foetus in the womb. As a result, the baby is born with disabled brain and the symptoms shows clearly after age of three years. The baby develops speech and interaction impairment. He advised the parents to accept the condition of their children and seek help from professionals like him, doctors and psychologists.

  Ms. Kibiru said that the special education has few instructors compared to the number of disabled children thus the ratio of teacher to pupil is wanting. In their case, each teacher attends to 21 pupils but the recommended ratio is at least 1:2.

           The autistic learners exhibit bizarre behaviours and need special care so that they do not injure or even kill themselves. Some bite themselves; others bang their heads on objects and tiptoe dangerously to restricted areas like toilets and boreholes. Each case is different. No autistic exhibits similar behaviour like the next. For the mentally challenged, they can be controlled because there condition is less severe.

           Both streams are merged in the vocational level in order to empower them to generate income despite their impairment. They are taught carpentry, beading and dress making so that they may make furniture, ornaments and clothes for sale in order to improve their standards of living. Indeed, disability is not inability.

          Interestingly, there is a rare strain of autism that borders on genius. Some autistics master counting, drawing and singing so well that they give those who are not disabled a run for their money. Mr. Mutuma showed us one such pupil and added they are few and uncommon as their gifts.

          Mr. Mutuma vouched for early identification of autistic cases. He blamed parents who lock up their kids at home or take them to regular primary schools and only bring them to the special centre when it is too late to correct them. Some are admitted as old as 18 years after they fail to cope with the mainstream education.

  On her part, Ms. Kibiru said that autism is a mental disorder that comes in a broad spectrum. Like a rainbow, the autistics have different shades of behaviour patterns in terms of speech (echoic), spatial (space) and sensory (sight, smell, kinaesthetic and tactile). Some autistics repeat sounds they hear. Others have super sense of smell that surpasses that of ordinary human beings. Still, others have strong sense of touch that they can hold an object and no one can disentangle it against their will.

          As they swung on merry go round, Mr. Makewa observed that one can rotate the machine at the highest possible speed, the learner can stand without staggering or falling since his/her brain does not get disturbed by the circular motion.

          Physically, the autistics have small heads (microcephally) while others have big heads (hydrocephally). What happens is that the abnormal heads are pressed by fluid in the brain that worsens the autism. The brain fluid is periodically drained to ease the pressure in the head. The surgery is expensive and thus unaffordable for majority of the parents with autistic children.

          The autistics are on special fish diet which calms hyperactivity. Mr. Mutuma said that they are not supposed to be fed high carbohydrate food like biscuits, bread and chapattis which trigger hyperactivity and restlessness. They also do not drink milk.

          We also encountered autistic children living with the Down’s Syndrome. They have flat face and reclined necks and slit eyes. Despite their perceived weakness, they were determined to keep their phalanges still to join beads with threads in a beading class. Perhaps it is this resilience that makes Mr. G.M. Makewa wake up every day and come to teach and manage the Kitui School for the Mentally Challenged and Autism Unit.