Welcome to the Action For Autism Website!

We are Action For Autism (AFA): the pioneering, national and non-profit autism society of India. We provide support and services to persons with autism and those who work with them in South Asia. Founded in 1991, we are a parent organisation began with the goal to "put autism on the Indian map." Awareness of autism in India has grown in the past decade. Our day-to-day activities now focus on a wide range of services and activities to improve the lives of children with autism and their families from an educational, medical, and legal standpoint. We are an Indian organisation, and our efforts are focused on the needs of those in India. At the same time, we enjoy our sharing information and resources with autism organisations and families worldwide. To more effectively orchestrate services for the thousands of people with autism in India, we relocated to the AFA National Centre for Advocacy Research and Training in 2006.

Welcome to our website, and we hope you will enjoy learning more about autism in India and the services available through Action For Autism. We look forward to your comments, questions, and feedback!

Our Vision:
A society that views the interdependence of people of every ability as valuable and enriching and seeks to provide equal opportunities for all.

Our Mission:
To facilitate a barrier free environment; to empower families of persons with autism, and to act as a catalyst for change that will enable persons with autism to live as fully participating members of the community.

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Mark your calendars: the AFA Annual Training will be held 16-19 September in New Delhi. Details soon!

Catch up on what has been going on at AFA through AFA Happenings

AFA seeking full time research assistants for epidemiological project in Delhi Read more here

The Autism Network is our journal, which we have published three times a year since 1994. Read the April 2009 Issue (all our back issues are also available online!)

Diploma in Special Education (Autism Spectrum Disorders) 2009 – 2010
Admissions open for the Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI) recognized one year training programme in Autism. This academic year begins July 2009. Read more here

Join our group on

World Autism Awareness Day 2009 a Success! Read more here

Indian Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to allow accomodations for students with autism
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) posted a notification dated 2 January 2009 by Mr MC Sharma, Controller of Examinations, that informs several amendments/additions that have been made in the CBSE Examination Bye-laws. Read more here

AFA receives grant from U.S. advocacy organization Autism Speaks
From the Autism Speaks website: "Shaneel Mukerji, MSc, DSE of India's largest and most successful advocacy organization Action for Autism, leads a project called Creating Connections. Through the funding of this proposal, the investigators will translate and adapt the Modified TQ, SCQ, and ADOS into the two most commonly spoken languages in India: Hindi and Bengali... Read more here

Recent legal updates on autism in India

Teaching Positions at Action For Autism
Action For Autism invites energetic and enthusiastic individuals who are creative, logical, intelligent, and willing to work hard, to apply for various teaching positions at Open Door School. The positions offer exciting opportunities to therapists and teachers to work with individuals with autism and communication differences, in what is one of the most challenging and exciting areas of special needs education. Read more here

Have you visited our list of international autism organizations recently?
New countries have been added and we are in the process of updating this list by confirming information for each organization.

Recently completed trainings

Tamil and Bengali Translations of Education of Children and Young People with Autism
By Rita Jordan, Ph.D.
This manual is intended for parents, teachers, professionals, and community workers, with the aim of deepening knowledge and understanding of aspects of Autism in areas such as developing social skills, communication, encouraging flexibility in thinking and managing behaviour, managing emotions and developing life and leisure skills and experiences. This manual also covers organizational aspects, which develop insight about the development of educational services for children with autism. The manual is now available in Tamil and Bengali translations.

Tamil Translation: Autism Ulla Kuznanthaigal Matrum Ilagayarkallukana Kalvi Murai, Translated by Mrs. Ramamani Sundar. For more information, click here

Bengali Translation: Autistic Shishu O Tarunder Shikkha, Translated by Prof. Shirshendu Chakrabarti. For more information, click here

Health Insurance Scheme "Niramaya" extended to the entire country
"In order to enable and empower persons with disability to live as independently and as fully as possible, health services and their access to persons with disabilities assume a very significant role. In this context, the health insurance facility becomes important but presently such products are not easily available for persons with disabilities. In such a situation, a health insurance scheme “Niramaya” is conceived with the following objectives..." Read more here

Read more at the National Trust site
Download an application

Need information about Information on Tax Deductions?
Under the Income Tax Act, 1961, as amended by Finance Act, 2007, there are tax benefits available to families of children with autism. You must have a certificate of autism in order to qualify for these benefits. Read more here

Link of Interest: Indian Aspergers Group
This Yahoo Group is dedicated to Indians with Asperger's or High Functioning Autism. This forum has been created to unite and inform parents and caregivers from India or of Indian descent who live in the USA and have children or a family member with this diagnosis. This is open to ages 2 to 99! Please share this group with other Indian organizations and families so that we can share our experiences with each other. You can remain anonymous if you choose to do so.
Visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IndianAmericansWithAspergers/

Autism and Bollywood
Autism has a long history of representation in Western media, some of it powerfully good and some which perpetuates stereotypes and misconceptions. (For one description of this history, see this link). India, too, is beginning to include autism in different ways into mainstream films. Apna Asmaan, by director Kaushik Roy is one example of this. And now, shooting for My Name is Khan has begun. Starring Shah Rukh Khan, the latest of these Bollywood autism films features a character with Asperger's Syndrome.

See also:
Autism in Indian Cinema: Cultural Representations of Disability, by Sudha Rai, University of Rajasthan
'Film World to Support Autism,' an article from The Times of India

AFA Mother Child Programme
Action For Autism's Mother Child Programme is run three times a year, sessions starting each January, July and October. A group of approximately 10 to 15 mothers train together (with their children) throughout the duration of the programme incorporating elements of different interaction-based interventions. The programme seeks to maximize the benefits of the time that a mother spends with her child, teaching focused one on one intervention tailored individually to each child and taking into account the child's strengths, emerging skills and weakest skill areas. Read more here

AsiaPacific Autism Conference 2009 (APAC 09)
Action for Autism will be participating in the APAC 09, held at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, Sydney, 20 – 22 August 2009. APAC 09 will bring together people with an autism spectrum disorder, families and carers, educators, researchers, service providers and practitioners from across Australia and the Asia Pacific region. It will inspire participants by providing opportunities to build relationships, explore intervention strategies, learn about new research developments and celebrate experiences and achievements and raise awareness about autism spectrum disorders in Australia and the Asia Pacific region. Visit www.apac09.org for more information!

Action for Autism presents the Charter of Rights of Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders
Persons with Autism Spectrum Disorder have the same rights and privileges: civic, economic, and political as enjoyed by all citizens of their country. They have a right to be treated as equal with full human rights and fundamental freedoms and without discrimination...Read more here

Volunteer Information Packet Available
Discover how you can become an AFA volunteer

TELL US WHAT YOU THINK
What would you like to see on the AFA website? Email us and let us know!

Make a Donation
Action for Autism is now accepting donations in 16 currencies through PayPal, a secure and easy way to send money from outside India. Our account is actionforautism@gmail.com. For those who are interested in subscribing to the Autism Network, or purchasing anything else from AFA, PayPal can also be used. Anyone can sign up for a PayPal account at http://www.paypal.com. For more information, visit our page on getting involved with AFA.

Autism materials available in Indian languages
We are periodically asked for information in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, and other Indian languages. AFA has received funds to translate other materials, and we will provide information when these are available. The National Autistic Society (of the U.K.) has published some materials in Indian languages, free of charge. Others are available for a cost. Links to these resources are available here. For additional materials in Hindi, please see PDF versions of the Autism Network, which contain articles in Hindi.

AFA and Heartspring Collaboration
AFA's Open Door and Heartspring, a worldwide center for children with special needs with its headquarters in Wichita, Kansas (US) have a formal relationship as "sister schools." This offers the opportunity for AFA staff to engage in both cultural and informational exchanges with the Heartspring staff. In July 2007, Merry Barua was named a winner of the Heartspring Award for Innovation and Creativity in Special Education and attended the summer conference in Wichita, Kansas. In November 2007, Heartspring staff visited AFA and we introduced them to the work we do. Most recently, in October 2008 two of our staff, Preeti Siwach & Jayati Ghosh, were invited to Heartspring. We have greatly enjoyed this true exchange of experiences and expertise!

Read about the Heartspring/AFA sister school relationship on the Heartspring site
Preeti Siwach & Jayati Ghosh share their experiences at Heartspring, October 2008
From a blog by Chris about the Heartspring visit to AFA, November 2007

"More than once I would wander down the hallway and peek inside a classroom, only to see the last thing I expected - the only thing I should have expected - I saw what I see when I walk down the corridors of Heartspring. Teachers are working with children, one on one, doing solid ABA (such as new skill acquisition programs), managing behaviors, generating data for the outcomes of an individualized education for a child with special needs. I am here in a culture so different, a context so different from the one I am used to, but I feel at home inside the big red doors, because so much of what I am feeling is the same feeling as being at Heartspring. It’s about reaching that child, at all costs, with everything you’ve got; it’s about lighting up a child’s world, and setting their communication and imagination ablaze with organized thoughts they can manage and return. It’s about illuminating the interaction in that very special way only a teacher can know. It’s about turning the lights on." Read more here

AACTION Autism
Another organization with whom we have begun a partnership is AACTION Autism, which stands for Action Awareness Campaign Through International Organizations Networking. Aaction Autism is based in Chicago, IL, and shares our commitment to serving families of children with autism and partnerships between organizations. From In January 2008, six volunteers from the organization worked with staff from AFA to provide information and training. Learn more about this organization at the AACTION Autism site.

Good Read: ‘Unstrange Minds’
by Roy Richard Grinker
http://www.unstrange.com/

“Unstrange Minds begins with Roy Richard Grinker's personal story: his family's battles with the school system, the rare orchid his daughter Isabel plucked at the Smithsonian, and a day in Monet's garden that changed Isabel forever. But because Grinker is an anthropologist as well as a father, Unstrange Minds takes us across the globe-to South Korea, South Africa, Peru, and India…”

We recommend this book to families and professionals wishing both to understand more about autism as well as those interested in cultural aspects of the disorder—such as its impact on families in India. AFA has a copy in our library, which can be borrowed by those in Delhi. See the August 2007 Autism Network for a review of the book.

News feeds on autism in Indian news publications
Visit this link if you are interested in recent articles in the Indian press, provided by RSS. RSS is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated digital content, such as blogs, news feeds, or podcasts.

Spreading Reach in a Low-Resourced Environment
Read a relevant paper from the 2006 AWARES conference

The "Other" Action for Autism: Mike Stanton’s Blog shares our name

Index of original articles by AFA plus parent stories

FEATURED LINK: Autism Research in India

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Action for Autism
Pocket 7 & 8
Jasola Vihar
New Delhi-110025
INDIA

Tel: 91-11-65347422, 40540991/2
Fax: 91-11-40540993
Email: actionforautism@gmail.com

About this site:
As with many aspects of our organization, this site is designed, maintained and operated by volunteers. We are a non-profit organization and rely on friends of AFA to update and provide suggestions for the site. We also have tried to minimize the graphics and pictures to allow for faster uploading, since many families who access our site do not have high speed connections. We welcome your comments about the site, and if you experience problems, please contact us so we can improve our site and services. Thank you for visiting!

Site last updated on 1 July, 2009