By Nompumelelo Moyo (LJI)
In her book Our Brother Robin: An Autism Acceptance story, 16-year-old Annabel Adewunmi beautifully details her day-to-day experiences and struggles as an autistic person. Many may relate to and find strength from it as we celebrate World Autism Month.
Canadian Academy of Health Sciences reports that on in every 50 children and youth are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and for families an ASD diagnosis can involve significant emotional and financial challenges.
“Never give up on the children, it can be hard and draining, but you have to support them and let them know they are different and special”, says Iyeghewu Omorodion, Adewunmi’s mother. When speaking to CONTACT, the proud mother reflects on how their journey started and she says they (herself and husband) noticed something was wrong with Adewunmi by age of two when she could not put words together and because of that she struggled to express herself which agitated her. They immediately took her to the Children’s hospital for a diagnosis and they were informed Adewunmi was on the autism.
Adewunmi struggled so much at daycare they could not manage her, so her parents moved her to home-care which proved to be a better option for her. When she started school, she was provided with a shadow to assist her at the same time speech therapy was done to help her with communication skills. The CLSC offered a professional to give behavior management techniques which would equip her on how to handle situations.
Her mom, Omorodion was equally involved in helping Adewunmi by watching over her like a hawk and teaching her that there were consequences for her actions.
When she moved to high school the teachers suggested Adewunmi start with a learning center instead of a normal class for easy transition. Adewunmi learnt to deal better with her environment and in no time she was ready to join other students in regular classes.
One her emerging passions, was to write. This latest book followed many other unpublished efforts.
Adewunmi’s parents called on Katrina Valade, an extra curriculum teacher at Howard S Billings to assist with the book that Adewunmi was writing, and she is the one who helped get the book published.
Valade also assisted by coming up with ways to make Adewunmi’s story more polished and worked to make the experience more memorable for the reader.
She describes Adewunmi as a super passionate, diligent young woman who has grown a lot in confidence of her abilities. “Annabel had become better at receiving feedback be it negative or positive” says Valade.
Asked what motivated her to write the book, Adewunmi says she wanted to create awareness about autism and help those with children understand them better at the same time she wanted those with autism to know that they are not alone and that those around will support them.
“At home she likes to help and is very affectionate but most of all she loves to read and write.” says Omorodion who also adds that Adewunmi’s achievement does not come as a surprise because Adewunmi has written other books even though they were not published.
Adewunmi, who has three siblings is said to be very affectionate with them and just like any other siblings their have occasion fights with a mix of happy days.
However, the siblings cannot understand why she gets more attention from the parents, to which Omorodion says she explains to them that she is different.
Adewunmi has come a long way and improved so much she is practically independent, and her mother says she treats her like a normal 16-year-old.
Grab a copy from Amazon to get a better understanding, acceptance and inclusion for those with autism in society.
