TRANSCRIPT
When mother of three Shafica Berjaoui noticed her son wasn't reaching certain milestones in his development, she took him to a paediatrician, who diagnosed him with autism.
“It was a relief to me. It was a relief because I felt like my concerns were validated and I felt like I could create an action plan for my son. We're so blessed in this country, but help is not attainable if there's no diagnosis. So with the diagnosis, I was able to receive more help.”
Shafica's son Ayoub is now nine years old, class captain and a keen football player.
His mother says he was fortunate to have been identified with autism early, but some within her community still attach a stigma to the condition.
“I think many communities, even outside of the Middle Eastern community, the second you say autism, you get that 'oh, I'm so sorry, I hope he gets better.' I don't want you to tell me I hope he gets better. I love him the way he is. He's amazing the way he is. But it's just the extra support that goes along with it. There's a bit of extra work that needs to be done but it's not like a disease. It's not something that someone's going to catch or something like that.”
A new project has explored how multicultural groups could be at risk of falling behind when it comes to early diagnosis.
Dr Ifrah Abdullahi is one of the lead researchers from the Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre in Melbourne.
She says families need to be empowered to seek the right services.
“It's just really understanding our communities and how we can better engage with community as well as just hearing from the community's needs. So I think that we just need extensive research that looks into potential disparities and how we can reduce those within our universal healthcare system because every child deserves a right to equitable and appropriate supports.”
The La Trobe University study used data from the 2016 census for eight local government areas in Victoria.
It showed maternal and child health nurses monitored more than 13,000 children under 42 months old, for the early signs of autism.
Of those, 340 children with a 'high likelihood' of autism attended developmental assessments.
Those children's maternal ethnicity, socioeconomic factors and autism prevalence were compared to their respective communities.
Dr Abdullahi says that data produced some interesting results.
“We found a moderately increased proportion of children being diagnosed with autism in families with mothers from non-European backgrounds as well as families who spoke two or more languages. Really, it's essential to note that children from families with non-European mothers in our study were more likely to have high maternal education, high family income, as well as current maternal employment at the time of diagnosis.”
For mother Shafica Berjaoui, she hopes the findings will go some way to breaking down those stigmas around autism.
“From the community I come from, I do feel like there's a lot of work that needs to be done. People need to understand that it's not a life sentence. There is help. Unless you ask for that help, your child's not going to progress or develop to their full potential. You have to be the advocate for that child.”
