Written by Elia Chibwe

Lilongwe, August 19, Mana: “Schools are expensive, my house maid requires a lot of money to look after her as my daughter cannot go to the toilet by herself, and rental houses are costly due to security concerns for my autistic child. Sometimes, she even damages people’s property,” lamented Manyanani Mwakibinga Munthali, a single mother, her face etched with despair.

Munthali, a 56-year-old single mother from Mwangwera village, Traditional Authority Kilupula, Karonga, has faced numerous challenges in caring for her 31-year-old daughter, who was diagnosed with autism.

For four years, she was unaware of her daughter’s condition since her birth in 1993. It wasn’t until she encountered a psychiatric lecturer from the University of Malawi that she learned her daughter’s condition was related to retardation of mental development.  

Munthali faced a lot of challenges in managing ad educating her daughter, who faced daily complaints from school teachers. The child’s behavioral issues and discrimination from peers made education nearly impossible.

Other people uttered scorning words and slating gossip meetings calling her a witch and claiming that she had deliberately harmed her daughter for reaches, while others regarded them as cursed people.

The life of a single mother was really engrossed in the sea of miseries and calamities as depression attacked her due to the discrimination that her daughter faced and cost of secure housing for her autistic child.

Her family has separated 18 years ago, leaving her to raise two biological children and three others alone.

Munthali wishes for a government program to support parents of autistic children financially, to ease their burden.

Although a psychiatrist lecturer had identified her daughter’s condition as mental retardation years ago, it wasn’t until the autism awareness campaign began in 2010 that she understood it was autism.

“Even after my encounter with the psychiatrist from University of Malawi several years ago, I still thought that witchcraft did such evil to my child and I was stressed for that until the awareness campaign clarified it. The campaign has been a great help, providing support through local parent groups where we share information on caring for autistic children,” Munthali said.

Attempts to reach the Ministry of Health for comments on support programs for autistic children were unsuccessful. Spokesperson for the Ministry of Health, Adrian Chikumbe did not respond to or the questionnaire sent to him through WhatsApp.

Mental Health Expert, Dr. Precious Makiyi acknowledged the positive impact of awareness campaigns in reducing discrimination and improving diagnoses.

“Knowledge has increased; people are being empowered. So we had the cases but now we are becoming more aware as knowledge has increased as we have many mental professionals than before. So obviously, the professionals are able to diagnose the cases,” Makiyi explained.

He said late marriages now contribute to higher autism rates, compared to the past when people married younger around 18 and 25 years and would have children early in time.

“Obviously when someone is giving birth at an advanced age. For instance, 35 and above that become a risk factor for developmental disorder as autism, unlike in the past where people would marry and start bearing children at 18 and by around 35 they finished bearing children,” he said.

He added that people look at such children as troublesome and this becomes more of a challenge to the guardians or parents.

Lauryn Sulani, Director for Centre for Down Syndrome, Sickle Cell Anaemia and Autism (CEDOSSA), described autism as a complex condition related to brain development that affects how a person perceives and socializes with others, leading to difficulties in social interaction and communication.

She said genetic and environment factors play a role in its development, highlighting that autism is highly heritable and having a sibling with Autism increases the likelihood of having it.

According to the Director, age and perinatal exposure are also contributing factors but the exact interplay between these two factors remains an ongoing area of study.

Sulani noted that her organization offers psychosocial counselling sessions, support groups and economic empowerment based on individual capabilities.

She said the suggested number of the people with autism in the country in 2014 was 130, 000 but her board has planned to do a national wide research to have exact figures to enable them in proper planning and programming of the activities of autism.

For knowledge sakes, the signs and symptoms of Autism are: having difficulties with social interaction, children with autism may have an unusual interest in specific objects, having difficulties with changes in routine, having great ability in one area and great difficulty in another, having unusually strong reactions to one or more of their five senses, doing the same thing over and over again, or talk constantly about specific things that interest them, having intense and prolonged emotional reactions.