T

he Jakarta administration in cooperation with the Indonesian Autism Awareness Society (Mpati), has opened the city'€™s first free autism center.

The center, established a year after Governor Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo declared Jakarta to be '€œautism-friendly'€, will provide care for children with autism, especially those from low-income families. Deputy Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama said during the opening ceremony that the center was aimed at providing free treatment and education.

Ahok said many people, especially those from the low-income bracket, lacked a basic understanding of autism, thus exacerbating the problem.

'€œIf the children come from wealthy families, there is no problem as their parents have easy access to all kinds of treatment and education. However, children with autism from poorer families have very limited choices,'€ he said.

That was why, he said, the city administration would invite other agencies and working units to take part in realizing Jakarta as an autism-friendly city. '€œWe can ask the Housing and Administrative Buildings Agency, for example, to build low-cost apartments, so children with autism can live in a better environment,'€ he said.

Ahok said the city would also provide training programs for medical officers in community health centers (Puskesmas) in every subdistrict to have a better understanding about autism.

'€œWe will be focusing the distribution of our grants and social aid on organizations that have dedicated many years to such humane endeavors,'€ he said, adding that he wanted Jakarta not only to be friendly to people with autism but also to every resident.

Mpati chairwoman Gayatri Pamoedji said the autism center, located on Jl. Bina Marga in Cipayung, East Jakarta, would also provide free diagnoses for autistic children as well as free training to their parents. '€œThe center is prioritized for autistic children from low-income families,'€ she said.

Gayatri said the training program focused on teaching children basic skills of daily life such as taking showers, eating, drinking, going to the toilet and dressing themselves to allow them to be independent.

She said she encouraged underprivileged parents who had children with autism or suspected autism to get them diagnosed and follow the training by sending a text message containing their children'€™s basic details to 081282452255.

'€œThe diagnoses will be held every first and third Wednesday while the free training will be every second and fourth Wednesday,'€ she said.

Gayatri said volunteers would record the data of children with autism and examine them for symptoms. '€œIf they have similar difficulties, we will group them for the same training.'€

She said the center had volunteers who had been working for four months familiarizing autism in public places like malls and schools.

'€œAs many as 55 volunteers have explained autism to 2,770 people in four months,'€ she said, adding that they worked completely pro bono.

Gayatri said she hoped other professionals such as doctors and psychiatrists would take part as volunteers.

'€œWe can train teachers, for example, so when they have students with autism, they will handle them better,'€ she said.

Gayatri said the steps were taken in order to ensure Jakarta being autism-friendly was not merely a slogan. '€œI hope other cities also follow the steps taken by Jakarta,'€ she said.

Jakarta Social Affairs Agency head Masrokhan said his agency planned to open care centers in five municipalities in the future.

'€œWe will recruit more volunteers, we call them pioneers, so the familiarization will be faster,'€ he said, adding that the volunteers would also be deployed to health centers and municipalities.

Indonesia has no reliable data on autism cases. Yayasan Autisme Indonesia estimated the number of people with autism at one per 500 children in 2000, an increase from one per 5,000 children in the previous 10 years.