04-20-2005, 01:27 PM
News from Japan -
About 30 percent of people mistakenly believe autism is emotional disorder or is caused by poor parenting, according to a recent nationwide poll.
Autism is associated with certain behavioral disorders, such as slowness of speech, an inability to establish friendships and an overly obsessive focus on a narrow interests.
Autism is thought to be caused by a brain disorder, and people with autism will be offered support under a new law that took effect this month.
But the poll, conducted for the first time by Tokyo-based Autism Society Japan, found about 20 percent of parents are uneasy about their children playing with autistic children, showing there is a long way to go before autistic children are accepted in their communities.
The survey was sent to 3,000 people via society members. Of the 3,000, 1,450 responded.
According to the results, almost all respondents were aware of autism. Fifty-five percent and 22 percent said they learned of the disorder through television and newspapers, respectively.
However, only 60 percent of respondents correctly understood autism. Twenty-three percent believed it was emotional disorder and 5 percent thought it was heredity. Three percent said the disorder was a result of poor parenting.
Mistaken perceptions about the disorder were greatest among respondents aged up to 29 years old. Many people in their 60s and over believed the disorder was caused by inappropriate parenting during early childhood.
Meanwhile, 90 percent of respondents said they had no objection to having special school classes for autistic children nearby or having autistic children as neighbors. But 20 percent said they felt uneasy about or did not like their children playing with autistic children at nursery school or kindergarten.
Hatsue Suda, vice chairwoman of the society and the director of Nagao Keyaki-no Sato, a welfare facility for people with intellectual disabilities in Kawasaki, said the results would have been harsher if a random selection of people were surveyed rather than through society members.
"Wrong information about the disorder was instilled in people, partly due to some media reports linking autism with crime," Suda said. "It's necessary to foster a wider understanding of the disorder urgently to improve the environment and enable people with the disorder to live pleasantly in local communities."
According to the society, there are 360,000 autistic people in Japan, rising to 1.2 million if people with high-functioning autism, which is not associated with intellectual disabilities, are included.
People with such disorders were first recognized as disabled under the new law, which is aimed at providing various support mechanisms in local communities according to age.
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20050419wo31.htm
About 30 percent of people mistakenly believe autism is emotional disorder or is caused by poor parenting, according to a recent nationwide poll.
Autism is associated with certain behavioral disorders, such as slowness of speech, an inability to establish friendships and an overly obsessive focus on a narrow interests.
Autism is thought to be caused by a brain disorder, and people with autism will be offered support under a new law that took effect this month.
But the poll, conducted for the first time by Tokyo-based Autism Society Japan, found about 20 percent of parents are uneasy about their children playing with autistic children, showing there is a long way to go before autistic children are accepted in their communities.
The survey was sent to 3,000 people via society members. Of the 3,000, 1,450 responded.
According to the results, almost all respondents were aware of autism. Fifty-five percent and 22 percent said they learned of the disorder through television and newspapers, respectively.
However, only 60 percent of respondents correctly understood autism. Twenty-three percent believed it was emotional disorder and 5 percent thought it was heredity. Three percent said the disorder was a result of poor parenting.
Mistaken perceptions about the disorder were greatest among respondents aged up to 29 years old. Many people in their 60s and over believed the disorder was caused by inappropriate parenting during early childhood.
Meanwhile, 90 percent of respondents said they had no objection to having special school classes for autistic children nearby or having autistic children as neighbors. But 20 percent said they felt uneasy about or did not like their children playing with autistic children at nursery school or kindergarten.
Hatsue Suda, vice chairwoman of the society and the director of Nagao Keyaki-no Sato, a welfare facility for people with intellectual disabilities in Kawasaki, said the results would have been harsher if a random selection of people were surveyed rather than through society members.
"Wrong information about the disorder was instilled in people, partly due to some media reports linking autism with crime," Suda said. "It's necessary to foster a wider understanding of the disorder urgently to improve the environment and enable people with the disorder to live pleasantly in local communities."
According to the society, there are 360,000 autistic people in Japan, rising to 1.2 million if people with high-functioning autism, which is not associated with intellectual disabilities, are included.
People with such disorders were first recognized as disabled under the new law, which is aimed at providing various support mechanisms in local communities according to age.
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20050419wo31.htm