Make it a common world; make the neurodivergent feel at home in it

Students of Gurukulam on a field visit

Recently, a social etiquette training programme for special-needs students brought into sharp focus, the question of how much acceptance children on the spectrum find at public spaces. There was a practical side to the discussion: As a related activity, 12 students were walking on a road in a neighbourhood in Anna Nagar.

“We cannot discontinue having such outdoor learning classes,” says Radha Nandakumar, founder and managing trustee, Gurukulam, an integrated center for children with special needs.

She notes it is essential for neurodivergent children and adults, and also the wider world to have a responsibility to make them feel at home.

Facilities with ramps and other physical infrastructure for the physically challenged are becoming integral to the design of public spaces. Similar empathy for the neurodivergent is still lacking.

Most special-needs schools have experiential learning or field visits in their curriculum but the challenge arises when society is not sensitive enough.

The team at V-Excel Educational Trust makes it a point to inform the organisers well in advance of any trip being planned for their students. Once, during such a trip (from Chennai to Kumbakonam), railway authorities ensured the stop time at the destination was increased to help these students disembark comfortably. Similarly, during a excursion in the Chennai Metro they had to request the authorities to open the door beyond the stipulated time as a student refused to enter.

There is a lot of therapeutic value in travel and being outdoors for those on the spectrum.

“We often take our students to public places like the Koyambedu market and the shops in our neighbourhood where the teacher shadows them from a distance. For those who have little verbal skills, we ask parents to send wrappers of the items so that the children can use gestures to convey their thoughts to the shopkeeper,” says Radha. During such exposures, the shopkeepers are also oriented about the children’s special world.

Integration of special-needs children into the wider world is not an option, but a necessity.

Dr N Rajeshwari, paediatrician and neurosurgeon, Dr Kamakshi Memorial Multi Speciality Hospital, says studies say autism rates are on the rise. One in 100 children in India has autism, says a report in The Hindu. “We need to integrate them with the larger society,” says Dr Rajeshwari.

Neurodiverse individuals cannot tolerate sensory overload. Some cannot cope with harsh light and loud sounds.

She feels some arrangement must be made in the Indian Railway to accommodate such individuals. “The lighting in a compartment can be more sober and the number of seats there can be restricted,” says Dr Rajeshwari.

A sensory room comprising toys and stimulatory effect at busy public places is one way to calm such individuals. “Malls should make some provisions to have a sensory room,” she says.

Charumathi Sriram, senior manager - media and public relations, V-Excel Educational Trust, says malls and others public spaces must have pictorial representation of different signages like ‘way to the washroom’ or ‘trial room’.

Says Charumathi, “We have taken the issue to two major restaurant chain owners seeking that they design picture menus in their outlets and they have promised to look into it.”

Offering options in terms of lighting and sounds, among other things, for these individuals in public spaces is what will make an ideal world.