Autism happens not only to an individual but to family, needs support: Murad.

Byline: Zia Qureshi

KARACHI -- Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah while inaugurating Center for Autism Rehabilitation and Training (C-ART) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), at Korangi announced to increase budget of the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPD) from Rs.800 million to Rs. 1.7 billion in the next budget so that more facilities for special education and rehabilitation and could be established. The ceremony was attended by CM Advisor Manzoor Wassan, provincial ministers, Sharjeel Memon, Shahela Raza, Advisor Law Murtaza Wahab, Special Assistants Sadiq Memon on DEPC, Waqar Mehdi, chief Secretary Sohial Rajput and others. Mr Shah appreciated C-ARTS on growing from strength to strength. 'I had inaugurated the first C-ARTS facility in Gulistan-e-Jauhar and now here at Korangi I am with a third set up under its umbrella,' he said and added that the C-ARS now was providing services to over 300 individuals with Autism free of cost.

The CM said that the trait that made C-ARTS unique was that they provide all the services required by children with Autism under one roof. 'while children are the main focus of C-ARTS, they do provide training to the parents also, as Autism ultimately doesn't happen to an individual, it happens to a family and requires the full support of all the child caregivers,' he said.

Today we have inaugurated C-ARTS Adult and ADHD Center, which will train over 150 individuals with Autism for employment so that they become contributing members of the society, the chief minister said and added the center would also cater to ADHD children. 'The distinct feature of this center is that it is a collaboration between the rehabilitation and skill experts with the corporate sector,' he said and added this model would, InshaAllah, go a long way to create sustainable employment for this population and they would be a role model for others. Murad Ali Shah deplored that in Pakistan there was a dearth of professionals who were appropriately qualified to work with Autism individuals. 'Thus C-ARTS also acts as a training facility for these professionals to receive the experience and training required to execute their duties to the best of their abilities,' he said. Mr Shah said that the C-ARTS' first satellite facility in Hyderabad has also started providing state of the art services to individuals with Autism. He added that to that end, he was allocating a bigger facility and budget so...