‘Prevent cognitive impairment among children’

Mohammad Nasimuddin, who was addressing the ‘5th international Conference and 13th National Workshop 2016’ on Early Intervention in mental Retardation and Associated Disabilities organised by Madhuram Narayanan Centre for Exceptional Children on Thursday, called for preventive steps to ensure that no child is born with disabilities. “As it is prevalent across the world, even Tamil Nadu has been seeing a rise in the number of children with cognitive impairment and mental retardation. The biggest concern here is that there are many pregnant women who are anaemic,” he said. According to the 2011 census, there are 1,00,847 people who have mental retardation. 

However, there are no separate registries for the numbers with Down Syndrome, Autism etc there are only estimates. “This is because some are diagnosed when the child is three months and others at 3 years,” said Nasimuddin. In fact, the recent National Family Health Survey 2015-16 revealed that the percentage of anaemia among pregnant women in the state was 37.2 in urban areas and 52.1 in the rural areas. He said, “Added to this, lifestyle issues and consanguineous marriages are common in the state.  Pregnant women are facing a toxic environment that affects the foetus. We need to look at ways of preventing such impairment.” 

Nasimuddin said there was an urgent need to educate young women and expectant mothers about disabilities and the need to prevent them. “We don’t have any booklet or resource material that explains the condition to them in simple terms. The department is looking at various ways to create awareness for the benefit of a larger section of them living in the rural areas,” he said. He further added that the government’s efforts need to be supplemented by other parties. “NGOs and individuals have to join hands and make the section a productive one,” he said, adding that an allocation of Rs 380 crore have been made for the department this year.

Jaya Krishnaswamy, director of the centre, said that the meet was aimed at addressing inclusivity of those with cognitive impairment. “Thankfully, the environment is getting inclusive, but we seem to restrict their potential by measuring it with a lesser yardstick. That should change and we should focus on their overall well-being. In Tamil Nadu, we have a lot more awareness among those who deal with children with such conditions, but the rest of us should acknowledge their capability and help them to be productive,” she said.