What's Autism and Us all about?
Karan is a strapping 15-year-old boy, who was diagnosed at the age of 3 years with Autistic Spectrum Disorder. His mother, Adita, is his primary care-giver and until September 2009, had the support of her daughter, Devina. When Devina moved to the UK for higher studies, Adita took care of all his needs on her own. Devina visits Dubai - where Karan and Adita are based - regularly, and misses her brother a lot the rest of the time. is back in Dubai - where Karan and Adita are based - and is shocked to find he's grown taller than her. Now she doesn't miss him anymore and has moved his bed into her room, where she can hear him snoring loudly every night.
Karan is low-functioning on the autistic scale and is non-verbal (for the uninitiated, that means he cannot communicate through words although he is able to make unintelligible sounds). He can be quite hyper-active (sometimes to the annoyance of his sister), yet has times when he is amazingly calm. He loves to be hugged, which opposes the stereotype of autistic people who don't want to be touched. When he learned how to eat on his own with a spoon, we all whooped with joy.
Autism and Us is a chance for Adita and Devina to talk about and share their experiences about life with Karan.
It's not all Rain Man, you know.
