Autism and COVID in Guam

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the day-to-day challenges facing autistic people and their families. Those challenges get far more intense during disasters.  And coronavirus is proving to be the biggest disaster of all. Providing education and social services is proving to be very difficult. 

 John O'Connor at the Guam Daily Post:

With Guam schools still closed over COVID-19 concerns, many parents have had to double as teachers, even if only to help with online learning or hard copy lessons. It has been a somewhat traumatic experience, Abigail Ogo said.

"I even got myself a lesson planner. With that it helps me with the kids and the boys and their lessons every day, just so I don't go insane with where I start," she said.

But in addition to home schooling, the mother of five is also one of many parents on island navigating the pandemic with the unique challenge of raising a child with autism.

There are 244 children within the Guam Department of Education with autism, but that represents only public school students. Josephine Blas, president of Guam Autism Community Together, estimates there might be around 500 children with autism on island.

Autism Across the Oceans

The BBC reports that autism can be contentious in the United Kingdom:

New figures from the Department of Health reveal 291 children in Northern Ireland have been delayed beyond the target and that suspected new cases rose by 38% in the 12 months to September.

Health Minister Michael McGimpsey said he hoped all Health and Social Care Trusts would be meeting the target by next March.

The battle for improvement comes amidst friction between the charity Autism NI and one of the key supporters of the Department of Health's strategy, Ken Maginnis, the House of Lords peer.

Funding

The charity interprets an email written by Lord Maginnis to the department three weeks ago was a "threat" to its funding.

According to up-to-date Government figures, it received £320,000 in core and project funding in 2008/9 from the Department of Health and trusts.

Lord Maginnis complained of the charity's "persistently obstructive attitude" - something it has denied - and asked whether it should function "independently of any formal provision."

In Australia, there is a regional gap. The Age reports:

While Melbourne's eastern suburbs have two prep-to-year-12 autism schools, and the Northern Autistic School has campuses in Preston and Jacana, parents say there is nowhere for autistic children in the west after age nine.

''Inclusion into mainstream school does not work for all children,'' says Chris Saunders, of Autism Schools Action. ''This is a human rights issue.''

Yesterday about 20 parents from the group confronted state Education Minister Bronwyn Pike at the launch of the new Laverton campus of the Western Autistic School, to demand the same options in the west as in other parts of Melbourne.

KUAM-TV has a two-part series about autism on Guam:

• Part I
• Part II