Talked about autism | AlytusPlus.lt

Autism was discussed in the Alytus city municipality on Monday. “Let’s talk about autism!” – Barbora Suisse, the founder of “Draugiški autismui” VšĮ, published the book “Autism – part of me” on this topic. Autistic adults in their own words and through the eyes of specialists”, co-author, member of the board of the Lithuanian Diversity Charter.

Barbora herself is raising an eleven-year-old autistic son, for which she is trying to make Lithuania friendly to autism.

Jurgita Šukevičienė, vice-mayor of Alytus city municipality, gave the opening speech to the participants of the seminar.

“April is World Autism Awareness Day and the entire month of April is dedicated to raising autism awareness. The infinity sign is a symbol of autism spectrum disorder. It is said that no autistic person is the same, and the spectrum is as wide as infinity. No one person or family has the same experience of autism, and infinity also symbolizes the diversity of people and families living with this diagnosis. It is very important to pay attention, share knowledge, increase understanding, talk about inclusion, tolerance, support. But even more important is to act and create a real impact together. It seems that we are constantly working on this issue in Alytus, but it is necessary to strengthen inter-institutional and particularly topical cooperation with non-governmental organizations. There are still challenges, and I’m glad we’re talking about them,” said the vice-mayor.

B. Suisse presented what autism is and how it manifests itself, examined myths about autistic people, talked about what challenges autistic people face at university, work and personal life, how to be autism-friendly with your words and actions.

1-2 percent of the world’s population are autistic. It can be our family member, friend or colleague.

Invisible psychosocial disabilities are surrounded by many stigmas. So it is especially important to know them.

What are autism spectrum disorders? Autism determines how a person understands the environment, how he communicates with others. He or she may have difficulty expressing themselves or interpreting the information they receive.

Autistic people have many sensory challenges – sensitivity to light, sound, smell, they may not be aware of their body sensations.

Autistic people value logic, often have a very good memory, are attentive to details and are able to identify patterns.

They can be excellent workers in the following fields: IT sector, engineering, scientific research, analytics.

The speaker presented statistics illustrating the growing number of autism cases in Lithuania. Since 2013 until 2022 – 365 percent From 1,086 to 5,040 diagnosed.

The seminar was initiated by the Social Support Department of the Alytus City Municipality Administration.

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