By Ar. Catherine C. Cham /Mother of Vico Cham, PWA
EVERY third week of January, the National Autism Consciousness Week is celebrated by various organizations of person with autism as led by the National Council of Disability Affairs. One of the events was the Art Exhibit For A Cause by Vico’s Artism Gallery in collaboration with Cardinal Medical Charities Foundation.
This art exhibit was aimed at helping the foundation whose beneficiaries are patients financially in need, raising autism awareness and consciousness, and sharing the exceptional talents of young children and adults with autism and inspire others.
The Art Exhibit For A Cause featured nine exceptional artists from Vico’s Artism Gallery led by Vico Cham. The other artists are Chico Joaquin, Reyjohn Bea, Daniel Sanchez, Jorel Alegre, Jon Jon de Guzman, Bodick Quintela, Waqi Panaligan and Ali Padolina.
What is autism?
Autism is a complex neurobehavioral condition that includes impairments in social interaction, developmental language and communication skills combined with rigid behaviors.
In the case of Vico, he was diagnosed at the age of 2 years and 8 months. At that time, autism awareness was very low and I had no choice but to rely on my “mother’s instinct.” Vico’s development started to regress when he turned 2 years; he lost his eye contact, speech and interaction with us. He flapped his hands, tiptoed while walking, lined up his toys vertically and horizontally. It was then I had to seek help from the doctors.
Later I realized that other parents had similar, if not exactly the same, experiences with their children in the spectrum.
Autism is….
Upon knowing Vico’s condition, I had to research and learn more about Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Persons with autism have another way of perceiving the world. As described by many, “most of the time they live in their own world.” The spectrum varies from one person to another and no two PWAs are the same. As to what causes autism, there are possible factors short-listed, yet none of these is determined. It is best to know and accept the condition then be open to conducting early diagnosis and administer intervention.
Autism is not…
Some false assumptions about Autism are vaccinations as one of the factors; poor parenting or complications during the pregnancy of the mother; Autism is the same in all PWAs; and definitely not a biological nor psychological disease on its own .
How to interact with PWAs
When interacting with PWAs it is recommended to be respectful and stay calm if they become agitated due to unfamiliar environments or situations. Their structured behavior help in making them more functional and productive.
As parents with autism, we learned to accept, understand, embrace and love our children, which are the most important factors to help them understand our world.
Vico grew up believing that he is no different from anyone else but is capable of doing greater things.
At age 27, he earned for himself the 2015 Apolinario Mabini for PWD Awardee of the Year; he proved to be an inspiration to his fellow PWAs .
We would tell other parents Vico made a name for himself as a Global and National Awardee for Visual Arts because he is constantly accepted and loved unconditionally. Now we share our experience to the upcoming Artists with Autism and give them the opportunity to shine on their own.