REGINA – Just like most six-year-olds, Sharlize Mandes loves to colour and it’s one of the ways she expresses herself since she’s non-verbal.
Her mother, Jeanelle Mandes, said it’s one of the things she noticed set her daughter apart from other children at an early age.
“I never really voiced those concerns until one of my friends asked me, ‘Do you think your daughter might be slightly autistic?’ It felt like somebody slapped me in the face.”
Mandes said her daughter’s diagnosis was challenging in the beginning, “I didn’t know where to go. I didn’t know who to talk to about this.”
However, things got easier after Mandes sought out support services for her daughter in Regina.
Apr. 2 marks World Autism Awareness Day and thanks to movements like Light It Up Blue, more people are becoming informed about autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
ASD affects how a person interacts with people, their environment and how they process information.
The founder of The Casey Foundation for Autism, Alexis Cuthbert said despite the heightened awareness, services haven’t kept pace.
“If you live in Saskatchewan and have a child with autism the best place to live is in the major cities. If you have a child with autism and you live in Canada, Saskatchewan is not the place to live.”
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The provincial government funds around eight million dollars annually to autism support services.
The autism awareness flag was hosted outside of the Saskatchewan legislature Thursday morning.
Cuthbert said, just like the puzzle piece on the flag, every child’s disorder is unique and requires different therapy options which can cost families thousands of dollars.
According to the United Nations, 80 per cent of people with autism are unemployed and that the biggest challenge for adults is obtaining a job.
Rachelle Chartier with the Autism Resource Centre in Regina said that most could work in the right environment.
“For a lot of people they are going to be very skilled and brilliant individuals, but their social skills are lacking so that can make or break a job for them.”
The United Nations declared Apr. 2 World Autism Awareness Day in 2007.
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