Guardians unite for autism solutions, focus on the practical parenting and policy
Telegraph | 24 November 2025
Parents of children with autism, representing a range of fields, united to conceptualise and address the challenges they face, either together or separately, in a society that still tends to alienate or disregard autism and other forms of disability.
The Autism Convention Kolkata 2025 is an independent, three-day event dedicated to “spreading awareness, understanding and empathy” for individuals on the autism spectrum. The event took place between November 13 and 15.
“We did not want the convention to remain merely an academic or theoretical discourse, but to discuss issues that impact parents both in their everyday life and in the long run. Often, in many platforms, the practical aspects of autism get neglected, and parents fail to get any direction. In this forum, our conversation was solution-centric,” said Amrita Panda, a mother and the organising secretary of the convention.
The three-day convention addressed areas such as adolescent and adult life, including skills, finance, health, community, legalities and residential facilities.
“Regardless of the amount of property or wealth we bequeath to our children, we come to understand that in our absence, their safety is not guaranteed. As parents, it is our responsibility to contribute to the establishment of a social framework that addresses the needs of our children, and we must present this with appropriate documentation to assist in formulating policies on their behalf. Merely stating that the government, hospitals, or organisations are falling short is insufficient; we must ensure our voices are heard,” said Panda.
Often, many issues are overlooked due to a lack of awareness.
Parents of children with disabilities look for residential facilities and want to put their child into such facilities during their lifetime.
The convention discussed the parameters parents should consider while choosing such a facility and how to prepare their children for separation.
“Several residential facilities in the past have been under the scanner because of malpractices, and parents are wary,” said Panda.
Merry Barua, director of Action for Aid, a national centre for autism, said parents have to learn to step away and prepare their children to live alone.
“It can start with them sleeping in a separate room, but if space is a constraint, they could sleep in a separate bed,” said Barua.
“Parents have to talk to them about death in casual everyday conversations instead of keeping that idea alien to them,” she said.
The convention also discussed the government schemes that allow a monthly or annual grant to people with disabilities.
“Many parents, mostly in the villages, are not aware of the schemes and their benefits,” said Panda.
One of the challenges that parents of children with autism come across is when they have to be admitted to a hospital. In many cases, the doctors or nurses are unable to communicate with the child or the individual.
“Our suggestion is to prepare the health history of the child, which would contain the strengths, weaknesses and their sensitivity,” said Panda.
Children with autism are often sensitive to light and sound.
“Health practitioners would want to be more communicative, but often they are not aware either of the condition or how to communicate,” said a father.
Low awareness is a problem, but it cannot be an excuse, a doctor said.
“The reality is, many doctors or people don’t know about autism. It is not excusable, but hardly anyone knows. Also, doctors are so focused on being super specialised that a large part of our community has this condition and we need to know about it, but that sense is not there,” said psychiatrist Jai Ranjan Ram.
“For example, one could be a specialist in breast cancer. However, one still has to know how to communicate with a woman with autism, as she is equally vulnerable to contracting the disease, just like a person without autism can,” said Ram.