With much anticipation, I went about filling up the ID application form for Persons with Disability (PWD) a couple of months ago. This ID card entitles my son, who has autism, the same benefits senior citizens get from their senior citizen’s ID. A ray of light for families burdened with the costs of dealing with autism.

I browsed through the disability classification: “hearing impairment, visual impairment, speech impairment, orthopedic impairment, mental/psychological disorders, deformity/amputee, learning disability, neurological diseases, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, Parkinson’s disease, others (please specify).”

It was very disappointing to know that there is no specific box for autism.

This could have been a good start to finally have an autism registry in the country.

Obstinately, I put an additional box in the form, checked it, and wrote “AUTITISM” across the box. I simply cannot let a disability affecting one in 150 children be brushed aside with “Others.”

In less than a week, my son was issued his PWD ID. Instead of “Autism”, “Learning Disability” was typewritten on his ID. Checking the downloadable and updated form from the website of the National Council on Disability Affairs, “Learning Disability” indeed includes autism, together with dyslexia and slow learner.

CLASSIFYING AUTISM

Understandably, classifying autism is not simple. Autism is a spectrum disorder. Some of those affected may have learning disability, even mental retardation; but others may have the IQ of a genius Thus, some parents object violently to have their children with autism classified as mentally or intellectually disabled.

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder. In general, persons with autism (PWA) have no hearing and visual impairments, but many have sensory processing disorder – affecting the way they process information through their five senses. Some may have speech impairment, including being totally non-verbal; but even those who have no speech problem are challenged by the nuances and subtleties of true communication in a social setting.

That being said, PWAs belong to our society’s so called disability sector. According to internationally accepted statistics, 10-12 percent of any given population is with disability. With our current population of almost 90 million, that translates to at least nine million Filipinos with disability.

On July 17-23, the country celebrates its 31st National Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation (NDPR) Week. A friend lightheartedly questioned how can persons with autism (PWA) join in this celebration when autism cannot be prevented (there is no accepted cure yet) nor rehabilitated. But the Autism Society Philippines (ASP) believes that while each PWD is unique and has individualized
needs, there are many common areas that people with all kinds of disability can work on together. There is strength in number. Let us celebrate the NDPR Week!

The week-long celebration is spearheaded by the National Council on Disability Affairs with partners from government and private sectors. Schedule of events for the week, which can be found in the NCDA website, includes a job fair and entrepreneurship capacity building for PWDs.

A regular Angel Talker, Tiffany Tan shares her thoughts about the 31st NDPR Week. Mom Tiff is the resident writer of ASP’s ASaP e-newsletter, aside from being secretary of ASP’s board of trustees. She vigilantly surfs the net about rights and opportunities for PWDs, like her son JR, a second-year college student and PWA – proudly with autism.

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Tungo sa Katuparan ng Karapatan ng PWDs or Towards the Implementation of Rights for Persons with Disabilities is the theme for the 31st NDPR Week. According to NCDA (National Council for Disability Affairs), this year’s theme recognizes the importance of PWDs to enjoy the same rights and opportunities as everyone else.

It covers many areas where persons with disabilities have been discriminated against including access to justice, participation in political and public life, education, employment, freedom from torture, exploitation and violence as well as freedom of movement. Providing them these rights would give them the opportunity to become independent and partners in nation-building.

Often the butt of jokes in comedy or game shows, movies, etc. PWDs have now found protection from the provisions under RA 9442 or the Magna Carta for Persons with Disabilities.

Section 41 and 42 has the following provisions: Deliverance from vilification and public ridicule.

Public ridicule is defined as an act of making fun or contemptuous imitating or making mockery of persons with disability whether in writing, or in words, or in action due to their impairment/s.

Vilification is defined as utterance of slanderous and abusive statements against a person with disability and/or an activity in public which incites hatred towards, serious contempt for, or severe ridicule of persons with disability.

No individual, group or community shall execute any of these acts of ridicule against the PWD in any time and place and is hereby prohibited from vilifying which could intimidate or result in loss of self-esteem of the latter. It also includes the penalties that come with the violations.

Examples of public ridicule of persons with autism can be found in the popular YouTube videos:

1. Mga Taong Otistik o Mongoloid? Uploaded by high school students
2. otistik amp hahaha!!! Sheer laughter can be heard in the background.
3. Otistik, the title says it all…hahaha…

The irony is that the youths on this video are supposedly law abiding; they have uploaded another video on “law violators” - referring to restaurants overcharging their customers with VAT. In the middle of the video, they talk again about the video they just made, entitled “otistik” On the other side of the coin, a group chose to name their group “Tropang Otistik”. This one seemed harmless, as they just feature activities of their group. There is also a yahoo group named adek_at_otestek which includes a recruitment statement, and a design for their batch shirt. At their home page, you can read their recruitment ad.

There is freedom of speech and press in our wonderful country. An individual who decides what he wants to be is none of our business. I just wonder if they know the meaning of otistik or autistic? Otistik. Autistic. A “person” who has autism. He is a person first, before the autism. Autism is a part of that person. So is autism a disability?

“We have our own disabilities: to see beyond what they really are as beings, capable of developing functionally and as children of God too; the disability to disconnect ourselves from the notion that we are superior than them, the disability to accept that they maybe better than many of us, in more ways than one.” Mirana Medina, film maker of Alyana the first Philippine documentary on autism.

Celebrate autism instead. Happy NDPR Week.

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Autism Society Philippines’ July seminar-workshop focuses on Home Management Program. Speaker will be Teacher My Sorongon. ASP Metro South Chapter president Evert Malapad will also share his family’s journey during the seminar. Catch them on July 2, at the Asian Social Institute, 1518 Leon Guinto corner Escoda Sts., Malate, Manila. For more details, visit ASP’s blogsite at http://autismsocietyphilippines.blogspot.com or e-mail at autismphil@pldtdsl.net or autismphils@gmail.com.