2nd April of every year is observed as World Autism Awareness Day and the month of April is earmarked as Autism Awareness Month as per announcement of United Nations Organisation.
State Commission for the Persons with Disabilities, West Bengal under the Dept. of Women and Child Development and Social Welfare, Govt. of West Bengal arranged to observe“World Autism Awareness Day, 2018” for generating awareness on Autism Spectrum Disorder(ASD). This year, two programmes were held on 1.04.2018 –one at Beliaghata Durga Mandir and another in front of Nandan Auditorium. A ‘Sit and Draw’ competition and a cultural programme involving children with Autism was held in each venue. Several NGOs, Parents Organisations, students with ASD participated in the programme at Beliaghata Durga Mandir as well as Nandan.
An Awareness Programme was also held at Sisir Mancha, Kolkata on 2.4.2018. The Programme started with a ‘Rally’ flagged off by Dr (Smt) Shashi Panja, HMOS, Dept WCD & SW, Govt. of West Bengal from the gate of Academy of Fine Arts and ended at the gate of Sisir Mancha.
Dr. (Smt) Shashi Panja, HMOS inaugurated the programme at Sisir Mancha .An attractive performance on “Dance and Movement Therapy” and a panel discussion on ‘Future Road Map for the Persons with Autism’ was presented. Specialists in the field of Clinical Psychology like Dr. Mallika Bhattacharya,Smt Iona Kundu , Smt Krishna Roy,Smt Chaitali gami participated in the panel discussion. Dr Mitul Sengupta facilitated the Dance and Movement Therapy Workshop. Students of Psychology departments from colleges and universities like Calcutta University, WB State University, Kaji Najrul University, Bethune College, Maharani Kashiswari College etc, NGOs working in the field of Autism ( Manovikash Kendra, Pradip centre for Autism management, Autism Society West Bengal, Noble Mission, Asha Vaban Centre etc) and parents of children with Autism attended the programme on 2.4.2018.
First issue of the calendar year 2018 of‘Quaterly Sphuran’, the News letter of the office of the State Commissioner for the Persons with Disabilities, were published on that day.
Winners of the ‘Sit and Draw” competition held on 1.4.2018 was felicitated on that day by Hon’ble MOS, Dr. Smt Shashi panja.
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