By IANS,
New York : UN Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon has said autism demands the collective attention of the international community.
The statement came as Ban addressed a UN panel discussion on strengthening regional and international collaboration to help treat the developmental disorder, according to Xinhua.
“More and more children are being diagnosed with autistic conditions. Autism strikes without discrimination, but people living with autism can suffer intolerable discrimination that must stop,” Ban said.
Autism is a disorder that affects the brain’s development of social and communication skills, and generally appears during the first three years of life.
Ban called for unified efforts to raise funds and help “turn workable solutions into practical actions” to create awareness on autism.
“Our challenge is to move people from misunderstanding to empathy. This is a movement, a global movement, that goes beyond people with autism and their families. This is a movement to create a better world for all of us,” he said.