Support Autistic Children; Stop the Labelling

Signs of autism often occur in children between the ages of 8 months to 2 years. It manifests as self-injurious behaviours such as repetitive head-hitting, biting, lack of focus, inability to speak or maintain eye contact, and scratching among others

Roughly 10 in 100 Nigerian children receive the wrong diagnosis or are never diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), even after showing visible symptoms. However, the Consequences of this negligence on children are undeniably heart-wrenching.

Children with autism face social stigma, isolation, and subjection to cruel superstitions and beliefs, labelling them witches, imbeciles, spoilt/spoiled, and taboos.

So, in honour of the yearly Children's Day on May 27 and World Autism Day on April 2, BlueAfric Media teamed up with the Centre for Memories-Ncheta Ndigbo to launch a social awareness campaign that facilitates the acceptance of children (and people) with autism; encourage freewill donations to support families; urge everyone especially parents to #TalkAboutAutism and push the campaign against the stigmatisation of children with autism to relevant stakeholders.

We championed conversations around “Leaning on Community Support to Change the Narrative About Autism: Contributions At Home, At Work, In The Arts, and Policymaking” across social media platforms and an in-person seminar to compel participants to create a more inclusive society for children with autism.