On a typical day, Wawan, a teenager living in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, wakes up early for pre-dawn prayer before his school day begins. In the afternoon, he might walk with his friends to the corner shop to buy a snack before helping with chores at his boarding house and practicing for an upcoming prayer recitation competition. Socially connected and educationally engaged, Wawan is thriving—but the journey to this point in his life took some time and effort.
Wawan has flourished at Bina Anggita. In addition to an individualized educational plan and appropriate therapies, students are encouraged to pursue a wide variety of extracurriculars. This includes participating in religious and civic life and learning and performing traditional Javanese arts. These activities not only help children find their passions and abilities, but their public engagements raise awareness about the potential of autistic youth and promote their social integration.
More than a decade later, Wawan is a young adult, and more Indonesians are aware of autism. Elemental Productions, our ethnographic filmmaking team led by co-author Robert, has followed Wawan and his classmate Idris for years and made two new documentaries about their stories: Wawan’s Prayer and All God’s Children.
Other indigenous treatments that may help autistic children include the robust tradition of therapeutic massage, which can provide the sensory input some on the spectrum find regulating and relaxing. Some parents find ways to integrate their children into the community, such as opening small home-schools. If the child’s behaviors are not perceived as aggressive, Indonesian family structures and daily routines are also relatively accommodating and tolerant of differences.
TRANSLATING A GLOBAL DIAGNOSIS Some families may feel they have little means to respond to their situation, instead suffering stigma or confining autistic children to their home. Hermi also reached out to the family’s local community, including a network for mothers and families known as Pemberdayaan Kesejahteraan Keluarga . Present throughout Indonesia, PKK groups stem from a governmental initiative to empower women to help local families with health, education, and household needs. Hermi knew that tapping into these preexisting networks would be the best way to spread autism awareness and support Idris and his family in the long term.
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