PUBLIC simplified social understanding has been that dyslexic children have a problem that causes them to switch letters around in their heads when they attempt to read, and as such, they are not very smart and often actually slow. But this is not very true. While reading is, indeed, a challenge for dyslexic children, their comprehension abilities is said to be high. Thus, it is not uncommon for giftedchildren to be dyslexic. In fact, some of the world’s greatest achievers are dyslexic and they have excelled in a wide variety of careers. Dyslexics do especially well in certain disciplines, including strategic planning, inventing, scientific research, creative writing, engineering, athletics, music and arts and architecture. Most findings have it that the dyslexic’s dilemma is not a lack of intelligence, but an impaired phonological awareness — that of associating letter combinations with the sounds they are supposed to make. For instance, the letter combination OU sounds different in words such as bought, courage, young and loud. The dyslexic’s brain jumbles this up and makes translation difficult. The issue is not that dyslexic children cannot learn. It is that they just learn in a different way. Indeed, it has been found that dyslexic children test at a higher level of intelligence than others. Dyslexic children of today will have more opportunities than ever before to achieve full potential, walking in the footsteps of such famous dyslexics such as Bruce Jenner, Henry Winkler, Walt Disney, Winston Churchill, Prince Charles, Jamie Oliver, Thomas Edison, General George Patton, Cher, John Lennon, Henry Ford, Pablo Picasso, Alexander Graham Bell, Steven Spielberg and John F Kennedy, among others. Like in other countries, there is help and hope for kids with dyslexia in Sarawak as well. In line with its strong belief that dyslexic children deserve the opportunity to thrive in their educational environment, the Dyslexia Association of Sarawak (DASwk) is embarking on a role-changing mission aimed at re-positioning itself from a welfare-based non-governmental-organisation to that of an academic-based institution recognised for its skills and expertise in the field of literacy development. Its head of publicity Feizal K Avarathar said now is the right time to embark on this role-changing mission, given the general public’s negative perception towards dyslexia was beginning to change. He noted that people now were more aware dyslexia is not a disease. “It’s merely a language-based disability which affects an individual’s ability to read, write, spell and pronounce words. A dyslexic child is able to overcome this disability through guided intervention programmes.” Feisal said another reason for DASwk to embark on this role-changing mission was that people were getting more aware that dyslexics were not “slow learners” nor “stupid.” A Malaysian example He said, in fact, dyslexics were creatively inclined, having excelled in mathematics, engineering, science and arts. “An example is Malaysia’s Vince Low, an internationally recognised scribble artist.” He said being dyslexics was not something to be embarrassed or ashamed of, adding that in fact, many famous personalities in the world are dyslexics. Among them, he noted, were Albert Einstein, Richard Branson, Whoopi Goldberg, while closer to home are Dr Lee Wei Ling, daughter of the late Lee Kuan Yew (Singapore) and Captain James Anthony Tan, a Malaysian who holds the world record of being the youngest pilot to fly solo around the world in 2013. According to DASwk, among the successful Malaysians with dyslexia are Dato Dr Amar Singh HSS (a senior consultant paediatrician and president of National Early Childhood Council), Katrina Zawai-Watkins (special education teacher, City College, Norwich, UK), Ahmad Fitri Isahak (head of technology incubation programme, Mimos Bhd, KL) and Pheh Kai Shuen (a lecturer with a university in Perak). To accomplish its role-changing mission, Feisal said DASwk was now in the midst of sourcing for funds to set up the first Dyslexia Learning Institute in Sarawak. He said the proposed institute, expected to be fully completed in 2020, would have classrooms, a teachers’ room, an administrative centre, a vocational block and hostel facilities. The hostel, he revealed, would cater for children and their parents from outside Kuching coming for the assessment and intervention programmes. Feisal, also DASwk’s head of building fund, said the vocational block would be equipped with facilities to provide trade skills to adolescents and young adults with dyslexia and other learning disabilities. He said the institute, upon completion, would also provide other services like the intervention classes for children and young adults with dyslexia. Land for institute Feisal said the state government had alienated a one and a half acres at Desa Wira in Batu Kawa for the instituite, adding the building cost was about RM4 million. He noted that a key feature in the proposed building plan was its green concept in line with DASwk’s vision of creating a sustainable teaching and learning environment within the institute. In the long run, he added, the green concept would reduce operational costs, hence significantly contributing towards the financial sustainability of the association. To help realise its dream of building the proposed Dyslexia Institute, the association is appealing to the public and corporate bodies for funds. It is organising a fund-raising dinner at the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching on Sept 5. Feisal said according to a study carried by Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) in 2014, some four to six per cent of school-going children in the state are dyslexic. He said the study also revealed Bahasa Malaysia and English language teachers were neither trained to assess nor conduct dyslexia intervention programmes. This unfortunate situation, he lamented, had marginalised many dyslexic children from the mainstream education and this inevitably led to distressing outcomes for them. Feisal said if this situation persisted, the dyslexic children might experience negative learning environments, be subjected to ridicule and humiliation from peers, including those in authority and subsequently drop out of school at an early age. For this reason, he said, DASwk saw it as very important to have a Dyslexia Learning Institute. He added that once the institute was fully functional, DASwk would be in an advantageous position to assist the State Education Department address the needs of dyslexic children. “Once fully operational, the institute will be able to provide dyslexia intervention programmes for children and in-service training to equip teachers with the knowledge and skills to guide and support dyslexic children enrolled in mainstream classes or special need classes. “There, we will also be able to train staff to conduct dyslexia assessment tests on individuals, and dyslexia consultancy by professionals and researchers in the field of special needs education.” Unique position Feisal said the current national emphasis on higher order thinking skills (HOTs) had placed dyslexic children in a unique position in the country’s education system. He noted international studies on dyslexia concurred with the findings from the University of Michigan, USA, which stated: Many dyslexics (in likes of Pablo Picasso, Agatha Christie, Sally Gardner, Steve Jobs and Steven Speilberg) are exceptionally gifted in one or more of the following areas — thinking ‘outside-the-box’ in terms of problem-solving, creativity, hands-on learning and sports. Many have strengths in their verbal skills, visual-spatial skills, social skills, memory, and music. At DASwk, acccording to Feisal, everyone believes dyslexic children are potentially gifted. “We have to give them every help to unlock this hidden potential. This, in itself, means an investment in human development of creative thinking among its people.” He said it was DASwk’s hope and aspiration to give this four to six per cent of the state’s dyslexic children population a chance to shine and respond to the state education department’s clarion call of Fly Kenyalang Fly. For the record, DASwk is a non-profit NGO set up in 2005 and registered with the Registrar of Societies in 2007. It aims to help children with dyslexia and other learning difficulties overcome their literacy difficulties through intensive intervention programmes and learning support. Since its inception, the association had achieved notable successes. Among them are having been voted Most Active NGO in Sarawak in 2013 by the Ministry of Welfare, Women and Family Development; conducted dyslexia awareness courses for 700 teachers in Kuching, Sri Aman, Bau, Betong, Sarikei, Dalat, Kapit Bintulu, Miri and Limbang from 2011 to 2013 in collaboration with the State Education Depatrment; organised the First Asia-Pacific Conference on Dyslexia and other Learning Disabilities in 2013 and involved in Empowerment Partnership Programme with Mobility International USA and University of Michigan, USA, in 2013-2014. DASwk is also the only NGO in Malaysia that provides an online education course on dyslexia for parents and teachers. Tell-tale signs of dyslexia Do you have these symptoms when you were in school? • Difficulty in sounding out word. • Difficulty in reading. • Avoid reading aloud. • Difficulty to understand what you have read. • Suffered from anxiety or headaches when ask to read. • Difficulty in spelling and frequently make mistakes. • Difficulty in writing down ideas that were in your mind. • Confusion with direction words, for example, left-right, • north-south-east-west, before-after, up-down. • Poor in time and space management. • Wrote with difficulty or had illegible handwriting • Creative thought. • Learn best through hands-on experience, demonstration, experimentation, observation and visual aids. • Talented in art, drama music, sports, mechanics and story-telling. If you have six or more of the above signs and symptoms, you might be at risk for dyslexia.
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Earlier this month, the White House was drenched in blue light, a gesture of support for the Autism Speaks campaign for Autism Awareness Month. For the first time since the largest autism advocacy group in the country began persuading public spaces to turn on blue lights in 2010, the White House joined Niagara Falls and the Empire State Building to participate in the campaign.
"We come together in unity to increase understanding and acceptance of children and adults with autism, across the spectrum," the Autism Speaks campaign writes. "As a nation, we must meet the critical need for increased research and support." Autism spectrum disorder is a developmental disability affecting more than 3.5 million people in the United States, or 1 in 68 children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Some advocates believe autism is underdiagnosed in Hispanic, black, and female children.) Those who have it can experience mild to severe difficulty with expressive communication, social interaction, and motor skills. The cause is unknown, but the misconception that common childhood vaccinations can cause autism has been thoroughly disproved. Nonetheless, on the campaign trail, Donald Trump suggested otherwise. Of all the advocacy and research groups that seek to broaden society's understanding of autism spectrum disorder, the most prominent and well funded was founded in 2005 by former NBC President and CEO Bob Wright and his wife, Suzanne, after their grandson was diagnosed with autism. The nonprofit received a $25 million donation from Home Depot co-founder Bernard Marcus to assist in its launch. By 2015, (the most recent numbers available), the group's yearly budget totaled around $60 million. Autism Speaks funds research into the causes and treatment of autism, works to increase public awareness about it, and advocates on behalf of people with autism and their families. In the past it also explored the discredited link between childhood vaccinations and autism. Suzanne Wright, who died in 2016, often wrote about the devastation of the developmental disability. "Life is lived moment-to-moment," she wrote in a blog post before the 2013 Autism Speaks policy summit in Washington. "In anticipation of the child's next move. In despair. In fear of the future. This is autism." That dire message of the tragedy of autism has attracted the support of many politicians and celebrities. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) lauded Autism Speaks in a speech at the opening reception for the summit. "You talk about Autism Speaks. I talk a lot about voices, voices that are too often not heard in our political process," Baldwin said. "I think we can really break through some partisan divides by uniting around the issue of Autism Speaks." During the organization's 2015 Leadership Summit, former Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) said, "I know that you're making a difference in coming together around autism…Hopefully we can find research that is going to cure autism and certainly provide better treatment for it." Conan O'Brien hosted the group's 10th anniversary celebrity chef gala, where musician Pink also performed. Earlier this month, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) tweeted a picture featuring a pin of the nonprofit's logo for "Light It Up Blue." But despite the broad support, enthusiasm for Autism Speaks is not shared by those in the broader autism community who complain the organization further stigmatizes autism and includes few autistic people in positions of leadership. "Throughout their history they have held points of view that are destructive to autistic people," says John Robison, who was once the only autistic person on an Autism Speaks advisory board. "For example, the organization has characterized autism as a debilitating condition that destroys families and prevents autistic people from living happy lives." In fact, self-advocates argue, their disability is not something that needs to be cured, but a vital aspect of who they are. Many consider autism and other neurological differences such as ADHD part of normal human variation; given this neurodiversity, they argue, autistic people should be accommodated and supported in society, not cured. Figuring out ways to do this is where research dollars should most productively flow. Past efforts of Autism Speaks to find a cure, they say, is an implicit suggestion that the world would be better off without autistic people. Indeed, some consider this as a form of "eugenics" and call the organization a "hate group." Many self-advocates point to a 2009 video produced for one of the group's awareness-raising events called World Focus on Autism as a prime example of how the organization spreads messages that increase the stigma about autism. "I work faster than pediatric AIDS, cancer, and diabetes combined," the ominous disembodied voice of autism warns as images of autistic children by themselves appear. "If you're happily married, I will make sure that your marriage fails. Your money will fall into my hands, and I will bankrupt you for my own self-gain." The backlash was immediate. One blogger called the video a "disservice announcement." A parody video using the same footage featured a similar voice to personify Autism Speaks, intoning, "I will make everyone think you and your children are diseased and disordered and then turn on them." The Autistic Self Advocacy Network, a nonprofit run by and for autistic people, organized protests. In response to the controversy, Autism Speaks quickly took the video down. In a blog post years later announcing his resignation from the board, Robison wrote he had hoped to steer the organization and its fundraising power in the right direction by trying to bring attention to how destructive its messages have been to the psyches of autistic people. "We do not like hearing that we are defective or diseased," he wrote. "We do not like hearing that we are part of an epidemic. We are not problems for our parents or society, or genes to be eliminated. We are people." Autism Speaks did not respond to the criticism at that time. As they push back against harmful messaging and misconceptions, the internet "has completely revolutionized the way that autistic people can connect to one another, can connect to other people," says Julia Bascom, executive director of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network. The web has been game-changing, she says, because it's "a form of communication that does not have to happen in real time, does not involved eye contact, does not involve body language or tone of voice or anything like that," all of which are challenges for many autistic people. But there's another factor contributing to the rise in autistic self-advocacy, explains Bascom. "In the autism community, you saw a bunch of people being diagnosed starting in the '90s," she says. "And we've grown up." Despite this reality, only 2 of the nearly 30 board members at Autism Speaks are autistic. "Autism Speaks is an organization with a beautiful name and a tagline that says it's time to listen, but they are very bad at listening to autistic people and amplifying the voices of autistic people," Bascom says. Over time, Autism Speaks has changed its leadership and taken steps to address some of the criticisms. About six months ago, the group revised its mission statement, taking out language referring to the "hardships" of autism and the search for "a possible cure." But Bascom points to the research the group continues to fund: Instead of investing in work that helps autistic people communicate or improves their lives in other ways, she says, "there's this huge amount of research dollars dedicated…to genetic research and looking for biomarkers and things like that, and only a tiny fraction is looking at stuff autistic adults are saying would be helpful." Stephen Shore, one of the autistic board members, says that even though he has noticed a shift in organizational priorities—everything from working with autistic people in a more meaningful way to changing the focus of the group's research—he would like to see more autistic leaders. "It always takes time for an organization to change, so we can't expect an organization to have a research focus on genetic markers today and then tomorrow it's focused on researching the efficacy of various approaches for working with children on the autism spectrum," he says. Another sticking point for critics is its past research examining possible links between vaccines and autism, even as evidence against the debunked theory continued to grow. The group didn't take the firm stance that vaccines do not cause autism until 2015. That change came about three months before Bob Wright, who continues to spread anti-vaccine misinformation, stepped down as chairman. (He still sits on the board.) Wright, a powerful businessman in his own right, is a "longtime friend" of Trump, according to White House press secretary Sean Spicer. The president, who has also engaged with the anti-vaxxer conspiracy, has hosted fundraisers for Autism Speaks and encouraged his Twitter followers to donate to the organization in the past. Wright also publicly supported Trump in the 2016 election. Which leads back to the White House turning blue, something Trump promised the late Suzanne Wright he'd do if he won the election. In the past, Obama had been asked to participate in the "Light It Up Blue" campaign, but advocates quickly lobbied against it, explaining "why that would be harmful, and they did not," Bascom says. But clearly things have changed. In the White House statement announcing the administration would be participating in the campaign, Trump used the kind of language Autism Speaks has recently backed away from, mentioning the "obstacles" families face and saying, "Ongoing efforts to scan the human genome carry significant potential to better manage the disorder and, ultimately, find a cure." **Clarification: An earlier version of this article was unclear about which Autism Speaks board Robison served on. Larian Pelangi @rainbowrunspeeduukm . LARIAN AMAL KINI KEMBALI !!
🌈 "LARIAN PELANGI" 🌈 . Dengan hanya RM40, anda bukan sahaja berpeluang berlari bersama golongan OKU, malah dapat menyumbang kepada Makmal Autisme UKM dan badan-badan NGO yang terpilih! . Anda juga akan menerima : 🥇😊Medal 👕 T-shirt 📜 Sijil 🍟 Makanan 🍷Minuman 🛍💝Goodies 🎗 😃Button badge TARIKH : 13 Mei 2017 [Sabtu] JARAK LARIAN : 👉🏻Kategori Terbuka : 6 KM 👉🏻Kategori OKU : 4.2 KM . TEMPAT PERMULAAN & TAMAT LARIAN : Dataran Panggung Seni, UKM . *** Terdapat juga AKTIVITI-AKTIVITI SAMPINGAN seperti :🎈Mini Karnival & Pameran . 👉🏻Jualan Makanan 👉🏻Face Painting 👉🏻Giant Bubble 👉🏻Sand Art 👉🏻Balloon Darts 👉🏻Pingpong Bucket . Ayuh sertai kami! Bersama Kita Warnai Dunia 💕 Daftarkan penyertaan anda sekarang 👇🏻 . https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1mEZm5RmUmUmNgagFcoAxvTG75hXIJsE4M7mmAC0WhIg/edit?usp=sharing . Untuk maklumat lanjut hubungi talian berikut : 📞 Syira : www.wasap.my/6017-9427422 📞 Ezyan : www.wasap.my/6014-5417308 📞 Mina : www.wasap.my/6011-19315658 . Instagram : @rainbowrunspeedukm Facebook : Larian Pelangi . Nantikan update kami dari semasa ke samasa !!! Jumpa disana! . TARIKH TUTUP PENYERTAAN : 6 MEI 2017 . #larianoku #larianpelangi #rainbowrun #UKM #ukm #rainbowrunspeedukm @era_fm @ukminsta @busana_cantek @atukpesan @designedbydianiamira #charity #charityrun #run #runningman @pendidikukm #dbydreview @jelajahpbofficial @paljji.co #special #run @ukm_sofasantai #soaringupwards @borneobouffe @rainbowrunspeeduukm @ukmfans_official @ikimfm @biologyclubukm @hotfm976 THE ROCK WALK by NASOM (The National Autism Society of Malaysia)Hey ! It's April Autism Month and NASOM proudly presents the upcoming events for all Malaysian to join a charity 'THE ROCK WALK' to express our support to the disabled ones. Well, we are the care one to another. Lets join them ! The Rock Walk April 15 @ 7:00 am - 12:00 pm Walking Together for Autism Venue: Evolve Concept Mall, Ara Damansara Date : 15th April 2017 Time : 07 am – 12 pm Any amount of donation is welcomed. Every donation of RM25 and above will be entitled for one (1) participation to Superhero Walk. Payment can be made to CIMB Bank Account : The National Autism Society of Malaysia Account No : 8002 6462 41 # Autism Rocks ! <3 |
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