This Wednesday began
"Blue Week"
, which will continue until April 2,
World Autism Awareness Day
.
A period of reflection and awareness about autism promoted by more than 500 volunteers and representatives of civil organizations, companies and government to promote the slogan #hablemosdeautismo.
Autism grows year after year since, according to international prevalence, 1 in every 36 children has a diagnosis of ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder).
In 2000 the prevalence was 1 in 150, showing a growth of 317% in 20 years.
Some scientists are already daring to define this situation as
a pandemic
.
Autism Spectrum Disorder is “a condition related to brain development that affects the way a person perceives and socializes with other people,” as defined by the Mayo Clinic in the United States.
People with ASD may have
difficulties in social interaction and communication
.
A recent survey by Opina Argentina shows that
91% of society considers they are not well informed on the subject
and also that 95% of the population considers that people in this condition should have more support.
Promoting the dissemination and talking about neurodiversity
is the objective of the new
TEActiva Civil Association
, which held the seminar "Looks that connect" within the framework of which the "Blue Week" was launched, which has the support of more than one hundred organizations and entities.
At that meeting, in which different aspects of the topic were addressed, child and adolescent psychiatrist Christian Plebst warned that
“we are in a pandemic situation”
due to the increase in cases in recent years and added that “since the 80s the net increase is 900%, it went from one in 5 thousand to one in 36”.
He said that "
autism is a very broad spectrum
, we don't know why but there are biological factors, there is a gene for autism. The key is to identify before the symptoms in the first year, such as the look, if it responds to its name, "if he smiles openly. From 18 months onwards, the diagnosis can be made."
And he made another observation to the guests: “
No child should be in the presence of screens before the age of 2
and I would say that it does not contribute anything until the age of 6. They are side effects.
They have to increase the game, be in the square or in the club.”
From their personal experiences, Valeria Casuscelli and Juan Zemborain spoke about
the situation that families are going through
.
“It was difficult to come to the word autism, even though I saw as a mother that something was going in a different direction in my son's growth.
Two and a half years passed until someone listened to me,” said the member of Fundación Brincar.
And the founder of Pushing Limits recalled that “a doctor saw my son as lazy and a bastard.
It is good to accept autism and live it that way because it brings us all closer together.
For me
it was a relief to have a diagnosis
because we didn't know what it was.”
Semana Azul has a
digital multiplatform with a website and social networks
whose objective is to communicationally enhance all the activities that autism traditionally mobilizes these days.
The novelty is that it will allow each NGO, government, company or citizen to upload their own activity and make it known to all citizens so that they can participate in them or even generate their own.
The platform makes its digital technology available to enhance those that already exist, and promote the creation of many more, and at the same time the most relevant or striking ones can have media coverage and citizen participation.
On the website
www.semanaazul.org
you will find all the information regarding World Day and an index of all the activities scheduled for these days.
Among other activities, on different days of this
long weekend
the most emblematic monuments of the Federal Capital and the main cities in the interior of the country such as the Obelisk, the Puente de la Mujer and the Planetary.
This Friday, the Bicicleteada Tour Azul
organized by Pushing Límites
will start at the Municipal Skatepark of Mar del Plata , and will cover different stages until arriving in Buenos Aires on Tuesday the 2nd.
That day from 3:00 p.m.,
the TGD Parents TEA Grupo Promotor event
will take place , the now traditional meeting that brings together many autism families.
It will be in Plaza Vaticano, next to the Teatro Colón, and the band "Iván and his friends", led by Iván Demirci, a young man with autism, will give a recital.
There will also be symbolic events in soccer stadiums and several companies will change their logos to blue to put the issue on the agenda.