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INTRODUCTION Merry Barua Founder Director Action For Autism, National Centre for Autism, Activist, Trainer, Consultant. She has done pioneering work in the field of autism in India and abroad. Merry started Action for Autism in 1994 to raise awareness about the condition after her son was diagnosed with autism many years after his birth. AFA has now become the parent organisation for autism in the country. Action For Autism do everything to empower people with autism; raise awareness, fight for the rights of people with autism, collaborates with mainstream schools to train parents and teachers, research, publication and advocacy. A residence model school is under construction to provide lifelong support to people with autism. Before starting Action For Autism, Merry worked part time as a freelance writer, editor, journalist and volunteered some of time working with children suffering from cerebral palsy.

Open Door School To provide the combination of a good school and parent training that Merry claims to constitute the essential treatment for autism, she opened "Open Door," the first school on the Indian subcontinent exclusively for autistic children. The school has a dozen children aged 3 to 21 and acts as a laboratory that tests and adapts training methods from programs in different countries to the Indian context. Open Door adheres to a philosophy of accepting the child's behavior and using an individualized, structured program with each child. Part of the school's success is due to the high level of parental and sibling involvement. Open Door tries to prepare students for eventual mainstreaming into "normal" schools, although so far none of those schools will take the children. Merry agrees that more needs to be done to increase the awareness about autism. The understanding of Autism is very rare. It’s a prevalent condition which is not portrayed very well by our movies.” But what is encouraging is that autism has been included in the National Trust Act and that has helped them big way. “It gave us recognition. Many wouldn’t listen to what we had to say, but once it was included it helped us in changing people’s perception.” Autism Network journal She foresees that growing parent awareness and interest will lead to additional centers that provide services similar to those in the pilot program. In fact, a family in South India has already expressed interest in initiating such a satellite centre. Because interest is growing fast, AFA has begun the Autism Network journal to bridge the cultural gap between India and the rest of the world and bring parents of different backgrounds together to share their experiences and information on education, therapy, and care. It reaches about 700 professionals and parents worldwide. Advocacy & lobbying Other tools, including a comprehensive Web site, a Delhi-based library, and an information service spread information and awareness of autism to the medical world, disability specialists, and the media, as well as to parents and educators. AFA is producing a series of films on children with autism for India's national TV network. Merry also organized a jam session with a contemporary fusion band - her form of creative therapy for autistic children and their parents! A newly launched public awareness campaign will raise the figures on the number of children receiving early accurate diagnosis of autism. AFA has been lobbying hard to achieve vital recognition of autism by the government and in 1996 led a delegation of parents of autistic children from throughout India to speak out for inclusion of autism in the National Disability Bill. The Ministry of Welfare has recognized the disability, and in 1998 India's Prime Minister declared that the government wants to expedite the passing of "the National Trust Bill for mental retardation, cerebral palsy, and autism." Putting autism in the same category as retardation and cerebral palsy is a victory for AFA, even if the National Trust Bill, which guarantees service delivery for the disabled, is not passed quickly.