The Children's Development Center, on Friday, called on Nigerians, especially rural dwellers, to desist from stigmatizing children with autism.

The Center, a non-governmental organization catering for children and young adults with developmental disabilities, said the killing of autistic children is perpetrated in some Nigerian communities.

"It is appalling to know that people still kill children with autism or other forms of disability in some villages in Nigeria," said Tunde Adunola, the head of Prince School, a unit in the Center's Lagos office in Surulere, Lagos.

Mr. Adunola said children with autism should be accepted since it is no one's fault that they suffer the disorder.

"It's not the fault of anybody, though at times it could be avoided but on some occasions you can't; and in such instances, do you commit murder by taking a life that you can't create?"

According to Mr. Adunola, the center has embarked on programs to educate the public on the need to care for autistic children.

"We've been to Port Harcourt, Sokoto, Ogun and Ibadan and have visited the interior villages of these states trying to sensitize the people that children with autism and people with disabilities are humans like us that can be trained depending on the severity of the deformity to be meaningful both to their families and our country."

"The chiefs should let the people know that the killing of autistic individuals is wrong and is a crime," he added.

Autism

Explaining autism, Mr. Adunola said that the disability is a spectrum and a syndrome.

"A spectrum in the sense that it is a combination of different disabilities; it's a mental disability and not a mental illness, or madness but a disorder. That somebody has autism means that he is deficient in communication, about 90 percent of them cannot communicate as you and I communicate; their social integration is poor, they are stereotyped, they love to do one thing over and over again," he said.

"Obviously there will be cognitive issues like, to reason out, to learn, and the ability to do stuff on their own, and that is why they need support all through their lives."

Don't discriminate, train

Officials of the Center advise parents and guardians of affected children to train their wards rather than stigmatize them.

Mr. Adunola said that children with less severe autism can work when given the appropriate training.

"Let's make them meaningful Nigerians by giving them skills that will make them independent, skills for work, skills for survival, and that is what we concentrate on, especially for the young adolescence," he said.

Also, Yinka Akindayomi, the center's coordinator said "Some of these autistic kids can be independent to a large extent, and that is our objective.

"Basically, 95 to 98 percent of them when they are adolescent and young adults cannot go back to any university or regular school, so the way forward for these ones is to give them vocation."

According to Mr. Adunola, some trained autistic individuals are currently involved in providing catering services to organizations and individuals in Lagos.

"In fact, this is one of the reasons we got the recognition and support of the United States government recently," he said.

In August, the United States African Development Foundation gave the center a grant to support its work.

"We are proud to support an essential community group that has dedicated itself to empowering persons with autism and creating opportunities for them to develop skills and provide for themselves," the president of the American group, Lloyd Pierson, had said when giving the grant.

The Center, however, says it needs additional support from individuals and organizations to achieve its objective of providing care and training for autistic children.

"Like every other NGO in the world, funds and people's ability to understand the aims and objective and purpose of this project are the two major challenges confronting the center," its head said.