Amana researches how Bristol's Somali community is coping with autism

submitted by Poushali Mitra
January 28, 2011

In UK about half a million people have autism,reveals the National Health Service website.

But this statistics perhaps does not include the growing Somali population as there has been very little or no research done to find out the spread of autism in this newly arrived community in UK, especially in Bristol.

Amana Education Trust, with the help of National Autistic Society (NAS), is the first organisation to look into this matter.

Nura Aabe, the key person behind the Autism project in Amana, says: “Autism is a new word for the Somali community. Back home, no one knows about it. When families started to migrate West, along with many new things they came to know about the existence of autism.”

This unfamiliarity prevents Somali parents from understanding if a child is autistic.Limited knowledge and cultural inhibition to discuss about a disabled child in public results in suppression about the existence of the autistic children in the community.

“There are fears of isolation in the society if a child is disabled,”says Nura also a caring mother of twelve-year-old autistic son Zakaria.

The lack of emotional support,resources and isolation that she has gone through after her son was identified with autism made her think in acting as a shoulder for all those Somali families suffering in silence due to this unseen disability.

She had painstakingly gathered information about assessment,referral,training and service- some of the many things needed to support her son's life-long disability. Now she wants to share her efforts with all those parents who are in similar situations.

Her individual effort now forms the cornerstone of Amana's 'Autism project'.Trained by the National Autistic Society(NAS),Nura is now running an autism awareness course at Amana.

At present the project provides support to 25 autistic children in Bristol.“I am sure there are lot of children who remains undiagnosed due to lack of awareness among parents,” says Nura.

From spreading awareness about autism to providing support to families – the project aims to bring some improvement in the lives of autistic people in Somalian and other Afro-Asian communities in Bristol.

But the good work is threatened by financial crisis says Mahamoud Matan, Amana Co-ordinator:“Lack of funds and volunteers are the two major challenges that we are facing to develop the project further.”