Job space opens up for autistic minds : India

Autistic Sankarlingam, 26, has been on a paid job in a major hotel chain in Taramani for close to two years. He was in charge of table setting and to help during peak hours. “He was really efficient. He did have a few meltdowns when the decibel levels were too high during peak hours and so was the anxiety level of other staff but those were learning points,” says L V Jayashree, director, The Spastic Society of Tamil Nadu, where he was given vocational skills. His co-workers and floor supervisor were sensitised and were told to give him simple and direct instructions. When the supervisor questioned him once, Sankarlingam reacted in anger. He was then taught a breathing technique to calm himself which they called the “turtle”. Every time the situation was tense, hotel staff would tell him to do a turtle.

 
Sankarlingam can count himself lucky as most autistic children who are mainstreamed tend to drop out by age 14 as they cannot cope with their peers and the workload, say experts. “When autistic children grow up, their parents get old too and aren’t as enthusiastic as they once were. So it is important to intervene at an early age and impart skills that will help them in future,” says Mythili Chari, founderdirector, Institute for Remedial Intervention Service.

There are avenues for autistic individu als to be part of an everyday picture, if their capacity is identified, understood and developed. “Parents have to look at a child’s interest and train them in a profession that stays in the job market for at least the next ten years,” Chari adds.

Centres imparting employable skills to autistic people are coming up and several young autistic adults are being placed in hotels and computer industries. Those with an autism disorder can do well in jobs that are structured, have a routine and involve little communication. Horticulture, cooking, housekeeping, pet grooming, electronics and computer operations are said to be their forte. They have a good relationship with animals, say professionals. “They are confident and comfortable with computers,” says Surabhi Verma, director, Sparsh for Children, Delhi.

“They are perfectionists and follow in structions to the dot so they are efficient in housekeeping,” says Akila Vaidyanathan, director, Amaze Charitable Trust, the only vocational centre for autistic individuals in Coimbatore. Bharath Subramanian, 21, their student has just received a job offer from SAP Labs India to work in the logistics department. “When resources aren’t available we have to create our own,” says Akila who is also mother of an autistic teenager, Nishant, 19.

Nishant dropped out of a regular school in 5th grade when he developed behaviour aberrations.”Nishanth isn’t a high functioning kid like Bharath. He doesn’t speak or write but he is skilled in cooking, computers, cycling and trekking. Special schools did not train him in what he was interested in,” Akila says.

Her fledging centre offers different sets of programs to suit different autistic adolescents primarily based on technology . “Some are learning computer applications, processing orders for customised education materials such as flash cards from schools and parents for little autistic children. Some learn cooking so we have a future model for take-aways where people can order online or viaSMS so it doesn’t involve interaction.”

It never occurred to city-based Rajendra Munje, the creative director of an advertising company that his teenage son, Rupak, 19, would become just as creative until he gathered more than 50 abstract paintings of his son. “It began as art therapy and I was surprised when I first saw his strokes. He enjoyed playing with colours,” says Munje. “From a state of confusion since my son can’t think of his own future, I am completely relieved as a parent and there is absolute clarity .People think autistic children can’t make it big but that is a myth that can be broken as they have so much potential.” Rupak has his eight public exhibit lined up at the Poes Garden next month titled, `The eighth wonder’.

(Email your feedback to southpole.toi@timesgroup.com)

Success stories
Mary Temple Grandin, 67, Boston, US An animal behaviour expert, she is a professor of animal science at Colorado State University. She is also an author and autism activist. She was listed by Time Magazine in 2010 as one of the most influential people in the world

Krishna Narayanan, Born in US and lived in Chennai Civil engineer and author of “Wasted Talent Musings of an Autistic” and “Why me?-An Inward Journey”. His father is an IITian who made him proficient in physics and math and his mother has written a book “From a Mother’s Heart – A Journal of Survival, Challenge, Hope.” Krishna began communication to his parents only when he was 23 through his writings

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Chennai / by Divya Chandrababu, TNN / January 28th, 2015

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