Arbor Vitae - Seventh Edition

EOTY Jessica - AMSA-UI “Grow Your Awareness” was AMSA-UI’s tagline for the Event of the Year celebrating World Autism Day. To start this campaign, the committee printed out a big banner of Anti Autism Bullying Society. Then, starting from the early February, we asked the students, staffs, doctors, and even local people to sign the banner and give comments on it. Following that, on one special day, 16th February 2013, some of our members, especially from the Public Relations and Social Services division, gathered at Gelora Bung Karno, Senayan in the early morning. They served on a blood drive while asking runners to also sign the banner! The local people were so excited to sign the big banner.

They hope that this campaign can give positive impacts towards the society, especially for the autistic.

Our final event was held at Sekolah Luar Biasa “SLB” Tri Asih at Kebon Jeruk, West Jakarta starting from 08.00 a.m. The Tri Asih Foundation housed 25 persons with special needs, ranging from the children to the elderly.

To start the event, Dinda Larastika Riyanto, as the Representative of AMSA-UI, gave her first speech, followed by Leonard Andreas Wiyadharma as the committee chairman for this EOTY. Following that, the owner of Tri Asih Foundation gave short speech about the foundation. Our MC, Harlin ’12, then proceeded to interview some of the parents and trainers who came to the seminar. One of the parents said that medical students and doctors should hold this kind of seminar and workshop as often as possible, because there are so many children with autism in Indonesia. “Children with autism, ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), and Down syndrome could act and learn normally as other children if they are given the right treatment and attention,” said the parent, “In Indonesia, there is not enough attention from the doctors and governments to the “special” people.”

Next, two of the therapists from Tri Asih Foundation gave their comments about raising and educating the children with special needs. According to them, being a therapist means that they should have a very high level of patience to nurse these people with special needs. Most of the people living in the Tri Asih Foundation still need help from the therapists to do most of the daily activities, such as eating, bathing, and sleeping.

The therapists said that educating the people with special needs on how to eat and bath properly brought about some improvements. However, consistency and every day practice are necessary. After that, the session was continued with the seminar from Dr. Dian Widiastuti Vietara, SpKJ from the Psychiatric Department in Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital.