Nyandarua second county to pass Autism Education motion

Kirita MCA Justus Gaita during the debate of motion at the Nyandarua County Assembly. [Courtesy]

Nyandarua County yesterday became the second Assembly after Garissa to pass the Autism Education Motion.

The motion which seeks to improve special education in the county will ensure well-trained personnel and specially equipped classrooms for children diagnosed with Autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

ASD is a range of conditions which affect how a person communicates and interacts with the world around them, as well as their interests and behaviour.

It's not a disease or an illness, but a condition that somebody is born with.

It motion was tabled in the Assembly by Kirita MCA Justus Gaita and second by nominated MCA Wanjiku Muhoho.

During its debate, the legislators told of a story of an elderly grandmother who trekked over 10 kilometres to find a school for her autistic grandchild, albeit it not being properly equipped.

The policy has been hailed by autism awareness organisation, Autism Lights, who said it will ease the burden of the many families in the country.

A policy director with the group Wamaratu Chege told Standard that if it was properly implemented, finding schools for autistic children will now be easy.

He added that they will be proving autism-based trainings on Applied behaviour analysis across various counties this month.

Chege called on other counties to follow in the footsteps of Nyandarua and Garrisa to formulate policies to deal with autism noting that the statistics of autism were higher than pediatric cancer and diabetes combined.