Autism group in the Philippines criticizes articles, text messages ridiculing people with autism

From the Philippine Daily Inquirer:

MANILA, Philippines—An organization caring for those with autistic spectrum disorders has reacted to news articles and anonymous text messages that ridicule people with autism to undermine front-running presidential candidate Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino.

Autism Hearts Philippines said such black propaganda using autism were “ignorant, insensitive, inhumane” as well as “politically incorrect.”

“We are saddened by recent developments where people with ‘autism’ are openly being ridiculed in political circles, with write-ups and banters appearing in both papers as well as in text jokes alluding to the negative connotations of being afflicted with the autism disorder,” Autism Hearts Philippines executive director Christine Roa said in a statement.

She said the ridicule against autism started when former senator Ernesto Maceda, a supporter of ousted president Joseph Estrada who is running again for president, wrote a blind item in his column in a broadsheet on November 10 claiming a “major national candidate is autistic.”

The following day another broadsheet picked up the blind item and headlined a story based on an attempt to get a reaction from Aquino, who was quoted as saying that he did not feel alluded to.

The article quoted his uncle, former senator Agapito “Butz” Aquino as laughing off Maceda's aspersion, saying his nephew “did not have to flaunt his intelligence or be loud to get noticed.”

“But it also showed Noynoy’s strong character and self-confidence,” the elder Aquino was quoted as saying.

“We at Autism Hearts Philippines denounce the use of ‘autistic’ or ‘autism’ in a demeaning way. People suffering from the autism spectrum disorder, a lifelong developmental disability, deserve respect just like any other human being,” Roa said.

“It is ignorant, insensitive, inhumane and yes, politically incorrect, to offend people with autism and their families with such brass use of the disorder to undermine the capabilities of a political opponent or for such similar intention,” she continued.

“We hope everyone will exercise appropriate decorum to allow the less fortunate among us to live with dignity as members of one civil and compassionate society,” she said.

Founded by parents and relatives, Autism Hearts Philippines is a resource center and support group for families of people with autism.

The organization provides services and programs for parents and relatives of autism patients. It is currently working to institutionalize a protocol for the diagnosis and treatment of autism in the Philippines and Asia with its planned establishment of the Autism Institute of Asia.

At least half a million Filipinos are believed to be afflicted with the life-long disorder and that cases of autism are increasing in the country and worldwide, according to a medical doctor who appeared in a recent forum sponsored by Autism Hearts Philippines.

Although 500,000 Filipinos are believed to be afflicted with autism spectrum disorders, only 5 per cent or 25,000 have been diagnosed and only 2 per cent or 10,000 receive proper care and treatment, according to Dr. Alexis Socorro Reyes, a developmental pediatrician at the Philippine General Hospital.

Autism spectrum disorders refer to neurodevelopmental conditions characterized by one or a combination of “significant social skills deficits, qualitative and quantitative language abnormalities, restricted interests and repetitive mannerisms.”

Autism spectrum disorders are believed to be of “neurobiological origin,” but the cause is not clear, according to Reyes.

“The children look very normal but they have social deficits, language problems and restricted and repetitive mannerisms,” she said.