A lesson of biblical proportions

That was a Sports Stadium.
Eight Children were standing on the

track to participate in a running event.

* Get ! * Set !! * Go !!!

With the sound of the toy pistol, all the eight

girls started running.

Hardly had they covered ten to fifteen steps,

one of the little girls slipped and fell down.
Due to bruises and pain she started crying.
When the other seven heard the little girl cry,

they stopped running, stood for a while and turned back.

Seeing the girl on the track they all ran to her help.
One among them bent down, picked her up and kissed her gently.

And enquired as to how she was..

'The seven' then lifted the 'fallen girl'

and talked to her gently to pacify her.

Two of them held her firmly while all

the seven walked together towards

the finishing point hand in hand........

There was pin drop silence at the spectator's stand.
Officials were shocked.
Slow claps multiplied into thousands got louder and

hilarious as the spectators stood up in appreciation.

Many eyes were filled with tears...

Perhaps, even God's!

YES! This happened in Hyderabad, INDIA, recently!

The sporting event was conducted by the

National Institute of Mental Health.
All these special girls had come to participate in this event.
They were autistic children.
They were Mentally Challenged.

What did they teach the WORLD?

Equality?

Humanity?

Teamwork?

Compassion?

Good people help others who are slow

and helpless so that they are not left far behind.

Love thy neighbor as thyself!

Now enjoy your week-end!!

Love,

Prof. Dr. Alex Abraham Odikandathil

For your information, I will try to explain what 'Autism' is...

People need to learn about it so that they can appreciate the depth of this condition and its effects on the people that have it. At best it is a development 'disorder' and I deliberately don't use the word 'disability'. The word 'disability' portrays the whole mind-frame that these conditions are debilitating, which effectively creates a pessimistic black hole. It's not easy having these things. But if you meet somebody who's 'handicapped', so help you, don't use that word, 'disability'. Neither 'pity' nor

'put downs' will change the reality of these people's lives. Help them, and help yourself by accepting that fact.

Now for the conditions:

Most people will think of a silent, stony-faced child who sits in a corner, rocking and is completely unresponsive. This is the sad truth for a minute portion of the Autistic population, but most are nowhere nearly so severe. The most important thing you can learn about Autism is that it's a SPECTRUM DISORDER. That means it's like the difference between black and white--white being a normal person, and black being a very severely autistic person. There are many, many, many shades of gray in between the black and the white. The whole set of symptoms portrayed by people with ASD's (in any range of severity) are:

Fixation: this means that they are basically prone to obsession, eg, they become obsessed easily, and tend to stay with that obsession for a long time. Usually a positive one, although that doesn't mean their family and friends won't go crazy from hearing them talk about it ALL THE TIME.

Delayed Social Skills: they display difficulty fitting into a social structure; they often have trouble in conversation, and may talk about a narrow range of things.

Poor Language or even non-existent language skills: this means they may not speak at all, or are nonverbal. Most, however, do speak, at least a little.

All the three criterion must be met for a patient to be diagnosed with Autism. Those who fall into two of the categories will likely be classified as having Asperger's Syndrome.

Along with ASD's may come sensory issues. Sensory issues make everyday, normally inoffensive stimuli almost unbearable. A sniffle, snort, sneeze, clearing of the throat, etc, will trigger an instant rage reaction. Sensory issues are a real challenge in their day-to-day lives.