A Different Kind of Ability – Autism Day 2019

“It’s not a disability, it’s a different kind of ability.” – the slogan of UCSI Autism Day this year.

Individuals with Autism, or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), have a broad range of conditions characterised by difficulties in social skills with repetitive behaviours, speech and nonverbal communication. Some of them might also suffer intellectual disability based on the severity of their conditions. This community receives many challenges and discrimination to survive in this society. Things get even worse when the society refuses to offer helping hands to the Autism community due to the lack of awareness about ASD.

Hence, in order to increase the society’s inclusion about the disorder, Psychology Students Association (PSA) of UCSI University is eager to promote Autism awareness through the creation of #UCSISpreadsTheBlue series. As the annual event of PSA, #UCSISpreadsTheBlue3.0 – the Autism Day, took place in LeQuadri Ballroom, UCSI College on 13 May 2019. Being the Secretary for PSA, I was honoured to participate in organising Autism Day 2019 as one of the facilitators.

The event started at 9am sharp with the participants registration. The Dean of Faculty of Social Sciences and Liberal Arts, Professor Dr. Shameem Begum Binti Mohd Rafik Khan @ Shameem Rafik-Galea, along with other lecturers from Psychology Department also attended this event. Other than that, we were glad to invite 5 speakers to share their experiences and knowledge in interacting with Autism community. They were Ms. Gan Huey Sien from SEED Autism Services, Mr. Lee Teck Yuen as parent speaker who has an Autistic son, Madam Choon Lai Fong from Bloomers Training House, Ms. Rozella Wong and colleagues from Golden Space Holistic Institute and Mr. Mohd Adli Yahya from Autism Cafe Project Malaysia. The event then began with the singing of national anthem, followed by the welcoming speech by the Dean of FOSSLA, Professor Dr. Shameem. She welcomed all participants gratefully and hoped that students can benefit from this event to know more about the needs of Autism community.

Then, Ms. Gan Huey Sien, founder of SEED Autism Services shared her experiences in handling Autism community. By having the educational background and working experiences with Autistic children from United States and returning to Malaysia 10 years ago, she is experienced in working as a therapist and consultant for development and enhancing social skills to individuals on the Autism Spectrum. She shared the knowledge to the audience and also clarify the social stigma that people normally have towards the Autism community.

After that, it was the parent sharing session by Mr. Lee Teck Yuen. He has an Autistic son who currently attends Bloomers Training House which offers job training and development services to intellectually-challenged young adults. He shared his struggles as the parent of an Autistic child and how grateful he was that the training services provided by Bloomers Training House has made his son to become better. Next, it was the sharing session by Madam Choon Lai Fong, who works in special needs area for a long time. Entering her sixth year working with Bloomers Training House, she shared the differences between residential and non-residential centres​ and ​challenges she encountered at her job training and employment centre​ to the audience.

After hours of sharing sessions, here came to a fun meditation and games session. As the representatives of Golden Space Holistic Institute, Ms. Rozella Wong and her colleagues, Ms. Saida Nadziah and Mr. Loius Clovis, prepared a series of activities that related to interactions with Autistic children. There were a fun dance which involved movement of different body parts, followed by a meditation session and games. All participants were enjoy in this 45 minutes session.

A lunch and prayer break was scheduled after the meditation and games session. The lunch box were provided by Autism Cafe Project Malaysia, running by Mr. Mohd Adli Yahya. There were nasi lemak, spaghetti and vegetarian lunch box provided to the participants.

At 2pm, the event continued with the drama and pop quiz prepared by the Autism Day 2019 Committee Board. “A Different Kind of Ability” was a drama illustrating the school life of Adam, an Autistic school kid, who was always bullied by classmate but also received warm helps and caring by his friend and teacher. The drama was starred by our own committee members. At the end of the drama, a pop quiz was held. The participants who answered the quiz correctly were given a small gift each. The participants were also free to share their opinions about the Autism community and show their supports towards them. Generally, the drama received positive reviews from the audience with loud applause.

Sharing session by Mr. Mohd Adli Yahya was taken place after the drama and pop quiz session. Mr. Mohd Adli Yahya is also a parent who has a son, Luqman, with Autism Spectrum Disorder. He was a former executive director for the Standard Chartered Foundation and he is currently running a cafe called the Autism Cafe Project in iM4U Central in Puchong. He shared his inner feelings to have an Autistic son at the beginning to the audience. Besides, he revealed how he struggled, upset and disappointed on himself of having rejection to his son at the first place, and realised that the most important thing was moving forward when having a child with Autism. Therefore, he ran the Autism Cafe Project, which included the Autistic community as the employees. By running this cafe, he was able to provide employment to these people in needs as well as helping them to take care of themselves. Besides that, he was glad to see his own development as a parent with Autistic child and able to win back his son’s love.

After the last sharing session conducted by Mr. Mohd Adli Yahya, it was the prize giving ceremony for the Motivational Card Competition. All participants were required to submit their own handmade motivational cards when they signed-up, as the supports to Autism community. They were 5 winners selected from numbers of motivational cards submitted. All winners were given small gifts as the appreciation.

The Autism Day has marked a successful ending with a group photo session. We hope that through this event, we can spread the awareness on how important the social inclusions of Autism community into our society. We should play our roles as a society member, by giving assistance and caring to those special needs community. No one deserve discrimination, including our autistic friends, because Autism is not a disability, it is a different kind of ability!