Breaking the Silence: The Long Road to Addressing Autism in Nepal
When Dina Bangdel, Ph.D., an associate professor at Virginia Commonwealth University specializing in South Asian/Indian art, returned to her native Nepal in 2003, her mother-in-law took Bangdel’s son, Neal, to Surya Binayak Temple in Bhaktupar, a traditional city on the outskirts of Kathmandu. Not quite two, Neal had been diagnosed with speech delays earlier in the year, and his grandmother thought the trip might provide the help the boy needed. A temple devoted to the Hindu god Ganesh, Surya Binayak is known among locals as a place to bring children who are struggling with language issues, whether speech delays or deafness. . . .
A year later, Bangdel and her son returned to Nepal, and to Surya Binayak, this time armed with a diagnosis of autism. Nearing three years of age, Neal displayed major speech and social skills deficits. Though the diagnosing physician in America had steered Bangdel toward recent studies, websites, and an array of potential specialists to help her son, she was compelled to seek assistance from a favored deity alongside conventional medical advice from the Western world. . . .
For many permanent residents of the Kathmandu Valley, and in other regions of Nepal, autism remains an unidentified condition. The country lacks both the infrastructure to train physicians and caregivers in the complexities of autism spectrum disorders, and the social and political support to address the needs of those individuals who defy notions of normal behavior. As a result, families of children with autism are forming their own community in search of a common goal.To read more Subscribe »
