Fact or fiction: Autism myths debunked

The online dialogue is part of the My Community For Autism (#mycommunityforautism) online campaign. Photo: Pixabay

In conjunction with autism awareness month, there will be an online dialogue on “Debunking the Autism Myths” taking place on Facebook Live on Apr 3 (Saturday) at 10am at My Community For Autism’s Facebook page.

The dialogue, moderated by actor Lisa Surihani who is National Ambassador for Unicef Malaysia, features panelists who will answer questions about what’s real and what’s not about autism.

All three panelists are autistic.

Dr Daniel Leong, who was diagnosed with high-functioning autism (Asperger’s Syndrome) in 2011, is an autism advocate and facilitates AIM High, a focus group for adults with autism. He has a PhD in Special Education from Macquarie University in Australia.

Mohd Shafiq Badarulhisham, who has a Diploma in Information Technology from International Islamic College, is currently pursuing a Degree in Computer System & Network at Universiti Malaya. He is in the College Action Committee for the Disabled as an advocate for individuals with disabilities at his university.

Supaanong Panyasirimongkol (better known as NuNu) is a networking and collaboration officer from Bangkok, Thailand. She has a Degree in Music Education & Pedagogy, and was an autism expert with ASEAN Autism Mapping Project from 2018 to 2020.

Leading up to the online dialogue is a public poll featuring questions on what people believe to be true of autism at the My Community For Autism Facebook group.

These questions will be discussed during the online dialogue on Saturday. But viewers will have the opportunity to submit questions on autism through the Live Chat for the panelists to answer.

Find out if what you think about autism and those who are autistic is true in an online dialogue on My Community For Autism's Facebook page. Photo: Pixabay

The online dialogue is part of the My Community For Autism (#mycommunityforautism) online campaign, an initiative by Genius Kurnia (an early intervention centre for children with autism, under the Ministry of Education). The focus of the campaign, which is a collaboration with several other organisations, is to develop an inclusive community that understands, accepts and supports the autism community.

For more info, visit: My Community For Autism