Other children

Since 2008, every year, April 2, the day of knowledge about autism has passed throughout the world

Supermodel Natalya Vodianova from her youth takes care of her sister-autistic and took part in a public discussion at St. Regis, Moscow, April 2, 2015
Listen, it’s some kind of interesting: smart, piercing look, but-somehow not like that, ”said Nadezhda Romanova from Nizhny Novgorod when she had a son, Alexander. Eighteen years ago, autism in Russia, and in the world, knew little, did not really know how to diagnose, and rehabilitation centers who could deal with such children and now in the province of once or twice and have been expected. Strange children who are closed to themselves, who do not know how to communicate with the outside world and pop up in this world, a scream, who could neither understand nor explain either the parents or educators, and it was easier to hand over to the boarding school - it was a tragedy that they used to fenced off.

Starting since 2008, every year, April 2, all over the world there is a day of knowledge about autism-developmental disorders, which is diagnosed in every 68th child in the world. On this day, blue balls are released into the sky and change to blue-violet lighting in buildings: autistic children are most comfortable-it calms them.

The cinema "Russia": Children watch the musical "Beauty and the Beast", Moscow, on April 2, 2015, so blue-violet was the lighting in the cinema "Russia", in the center of Moscow, where the day of knowledge was held about autism and where children with this violation showed the musical "Beauty and the monster". Look at the faces in the photographs - the children are happy. And in a 5-star hotel St. Regis was an event open to the public, at which parents and their children talked about how to live with autism, how to solve problems, how to help the outside world understand these children and adults.

“Until the age of four, Sasha was like everyone else, however, he almost never spoke,” Nadezhda Romanova continues his story, “but by six causeless tantrums began. For example, only because we went home the wrong way. When a child with autism, experiencing discomfort or anxiety, is not able to express his feelings outside, a scream remains the only means of communication, ”Nadezhda explains. Children with autism are prone to stereotypical forms of behavior, they do not like to change the habits developed “rituals”. Stereotype games are one of the symptoms by which autism is diagnosed.

“At some point, I could not stand it and sent my son to the hospital, but three months later there was a turning point in me. I accepted it as he is, and most importantly, I stopped hoping for a “wonderful” healing and making unrealizable plans. And it was the most difficult, ”Nadezhda admits.

Blue lighting for autistic children is the most comfortable, *Moscow, April 2, 2015 *Help for themselves children-authors become outcasts: they are not allowed to playgrounds, they study in special schools and they have no many chances to find work when they grow. And most importantly - in Russia there are extremely few teachers who are able to deal with such children.

“In Tver, until recently, there was only one rehabilitation center, but they did not provide specialized assistance to autists. All that we were offered is one hour of working with a psychologist per week, which is catastrophically few, ”says Maria Timokhina, a former actress of the Tver Drama Theater. She brought her fourteen -year -old Kolya with her to Moscow: while the NT correspondent asked his mother, he sat nearby and looked at the tablet of the record of the performances. "What is your beloved?" - Maria leans to her son. Kolya in a fashionable gray shirt and an Arab scarf on his neck inaudibly tries to utter the name: "Romeo and Juliet." “The language is given to him with difficulty, he speaks nouns, but the problem with the rest of the speech,” his mother explains. - Imagine that the Russian is not a native for you, you know the words: “pear”, “table”, but you cannot tie them in the sentence: “Pear lies on the table”.

“Adapted autists”, as a result of rehabilitation, have mastered speech and basic communication skills, in the West often work as accountants or programmers - that is, they master professions where special compilation and attention is required.

The screening of the musical was organized by the Foundation "Exit", founded by film director Avdotya Smirnova

Maria Zhmurova studies at the BDT theater studio

Masha Zhmurova - she is 25 - she studies at a specialized college and in the theater studio at the BDT. Tovstonogov in St. Petersburg, in the evenings works in the magazine "Session" - the decoder of the interview. She has autism, but random acquaintances often do not know about the diagnosis. Communicating with the interlocutor, Masha (in the picture at the top) responds concisely, almost without intonation. To the question about the diagnosis, it answers, minting every word: "I am not embarrassed by the fact that I am different." He does not like to talk about childhood: “When I have not yet recovered, I was very afraid to visit. I was afraid of musical instruments, especially guitars and her sounds, but now I’m not afraid, ”she pronounces these words almost without emotion. However, this does not mean that she does not experience emotions. If in a conversation accidentally affect something deeply personal, Masha, without changing facial expressions, clenches his fists. Parents instruct in the ear: "You touch her feelings, but she cannot let you know about it, you do not need to continue."

Nikolai from Tver specially came with his mother to take part in the public discussion about autism, Moscow, on April 2, 2015 “to communicate with autism, you need a habit. I dream that in Russia someday they stop shying around, ”says actress Maria Timokhina: she is not offended by friends who, having learned about the diagnosis of her son, stopped coming to visit. And for doctors who once offered to give their son to a boarding school, “to live calmly,” is not offended either. In Germany, there are special apartments for adults with autism, where they are going to live when their parents die: special workers help them not get lost in a difficult world for them. There is no such service in Russia yet. And the autists can only hope that we will be kind to them. “Strange children”-for some reason they come to the world, which means that the world without them will be flawed in something.