Autism Association of Seychelles |31 March 2023

The first ever parent networking session organised by the Autism Association of Seychelles

‘Time for action,’ says new board

The Autism Association of Seychelles recently had their first ever parent networking session for the year 2023. The event took place at the Autism Centre at North East Point.

The new board was elected late last year and the aim of the association is now to ‘act’, said the chairperson of the board, Christian Faure.

“The board has nine members in total and to launch our first activity we decided to invite the parents with the children. We want to create a forum where the parents can express themselves. We do have a lot of frustrations and at the same time we are also looking into finding what services are available for children and adults living with autism,” shared Mr Faure.

During the first activity, stakeholders from private and government sectors attended the event. The service providers were also given the chance to explain what they are offering as services.

The chair also explained that the centre is currently not operational. “In order to have policies for people on the autism spectrum, we need to find how many people in Seychelles are living on the autism spectrum. The new board is looking into the possibility of having a consultant to do a survey and also looking for grants to finance the project,” stated Mr Faure.

The priority for the Autism Association of Seychelles is to get the centre running and also focus on activities to raise awareness on autism.

“But we also want to act and our message is that people on the autism spectrum have lots of capacities and abilities, unfortunately they get bullied. One of the reasons we are meeting with the different ministers is to see how to include all. Just having an autistic child in a normal class is not inclusion. We have to really see how we can include them in all the activities,” concluded Mr Faure.

There are five major types of autism which include Asperger's syndrome, Rett syndrome, childhood disintegrative disorder, Kanner's syndrome, and pervasive developmental disorder – not otherwise specified.

The simple answer to this question is yes, a person with autism spectrum disorder can live independently as an adult. However, not all individuals achieve the same level of independence.

Difficulty switching between activities; problems with executive functioning which hinder independence; atypical response to others in social situations; difficulty initiating social interactions and maintaining reciprocity in social interaction.

Vidya Gappy

Photos contributed