Lindsey’s Blog Post #2

Give three compelling examples of how cultural issues affect your project.

There are many cultural issues that pose a conflict with the purpose of our project. Through research-based articles and presentations, many interesting facts have arisen about Sierra Leone and their cultural beliefs of children/adults with autism and other developmental disabilities. One of the biggest challenges that we will have to overcome is their many misconceptions of the causes of autism and developmental disabilities. 

Franz, et al. states, 

“Gona and colleagues conducted in-depth interviews and focus groups with 103 parents and professions to explore their thoughts on causes and treatment of ASD in Kilifi and Mombasa, two ethnically, religiously, and socioeconomically diverse countries on the Kenyan coast. Evil spirits, witchcraft, and curses as well as infections, drug abuse, birth complications, malnutrition, and genetic factors were mentioned as possible causes of ASD” (2017). 

Many studies gathered information about how people in Africa perceive others with disabilities. Many families are isolated due to their children acting differently, especially when there is no physical marker of a disability (Franz, et al., 2017). I believe educating the people about autism is going to be the key to overcoming this cultural issue. In order for our study to be successful, our team needs to explain that autism and developmental disabilities are not controlled by external factors, and there are ways for these people to receive services and be accepted within the community. 

Another cultural issue that will impact our project is the lack of culturally appropriate screening tools. Studies have been conducted where cultural and contextual factors have not been taken into consideration. For example, part of an assessment question using the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, Second Edition, (ADOS-2) was about a birthday party. The exam discussed unfamiliar elements of a birthday party experience like singing happy birthday and blowing out birthday candles on a cake, all of which people in Africa might be unfamiliar with (Smith, et. al., 2017). It would be unfair to score responses incorrect to questions like these if the context did not apply to their culture. Another task deemed inappropriate for children in Africa was having them read as part of the assessment. Africa is predominantly oral, so children may grow up with limited access to text (Ruparelia et. al., 2016). It would be biased to consider their responses to these types of questions when concluding a child’s qualification of a disability. 

A third cultural issue that might affect our project would be the limited finances and resources available to the people in Sierra Leone. Being that Sierra Leone is a low to middle income country, the amount of resources (e.g., people and time) that are available to them are quite limited. Assessments that are used in the United States can be very expensive. This needs to be taken into consideration when developing a tool. It must be cost friendly. The lack of resources, people and time, needs to be taken into consideration as well. If our group plans to create a tool it must be something that does not take long to complete and can be readily available to many different people. There are a limited number of teachers and doctors, so assessments that take a long time to complete are not appropriate.  

 

Have you experienced or observed any of these social situations at home? Describe at least three such situations.

Two years ago our district had a family move to our area from a country in Africa. This family had a son who was engaging in stereotypic autistic behaviors. When confronted and offered testing, the family refused to have their child assessed and have a diagnosis of autism. At the time, I was unaware of why the family was so against having their child diagnosed and “labeled” with autism. This family had a misunderstanding of what autism was and an unclear perception of the lack of resources and services available to assist their child. Even after explaining the acceptance of disabilities in the United States, they still refused testing. After researching the cultural beliefs in Africa, it is evident as to why. 

Working at a TITLE-I school, the lack of resources from some families is a daily occurrence. Many families do not have funds and access to resources that other families in our district has. A lot of the programs that are used in schools are accessible online. Some work that students can do, but are not required to complete, is done online. Knowing that many of our students do not have access to these resources due to being in a lower socioeconomic status, time is allotted to them to work on it during school, where they have access to the internet and a computer. 

Our district has a large population of students who are English Language Learners and receive ESOL services. Occasionally, with the current assessments that we utilize, some students may struggle with the concepts. Accommodations are implemented to assist students with being successful, but their cultural differences impede their schema and their ability to relate to some topics within the curriculum and on the assessments. These cultural differences can affect their scores on these assessments. 

 

Give three examples of cultural practices that can be leveraged to address community / market problems.  

A cultural practice that would benefit our project to address the community and market problems would be Africa’s use of “social mobilizers”. During the Ebola crisis, the social mobilizers were taught about the disease and they went around to share their knowledge with people in the villages. This is how the information on the disease was shared with others (Herbert, et. al.). This would be beneficial to our project because we could utilize something similar to social mobilizers to share information and knowledge about autism and developmental disabilities to people in Sierra Leone. Hopefully, by spreading this knowledge, people with autism and developmental disabilities will be more understood and accepted within their village. 

Most children with disabilities are kept home from school, and are not offered the same educational rights as children without disabilities. They are often watched during the day by a mother, grandmother, or guardian. Until people understand autism, these guardians should create a group for families that have disabilities. At this group they can be taught ways to instruct their children, so they are still receiving some form of education while not in school. The families can get together to share their experiences and know that they are not alone. Many families are shunned from the villages, so having support systems put in place would be very beneficial.

Because these children are shunned from schools, the classrooms are comprised of students without disabilities. This would be beneficial to educate the children what autism and developmental disabilities are. Pictures and visuals can support in explaining these disabilities, instead of implementing some type of literature. If the children are taught in a large setting, they can also reinforce their knowledge by sharing the information with their families at home. Hopefully, this will help the children be accepted at school and in the villages. 

 

References: 

Franz, L., Chambers, N., von Isenburg, M., & de Vries, P. J. (2017). Autism spectrum

disorder in sub-Saharan Africa: A comprehensive scoping review. Autism

Research, 10, 723-749. doi:10.1002/aur.1766

 

Herbert, E., Drobakha, A., Bader, L., & Mehta, K. Community Perceptions and Beliefs About Disabilities in Sierra Leone Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entrepreneurship (HESE) Program School of Engineering Design, Technology, and Professional Programs

College of Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University

 

Ruparelia, K., Abubakar, A., Badoe, E., Bakare, M., Visser, K., Chugani, D. C.,…&

Newton, C. R. (2016). Autism spectrum disorders in Africa: Current challenges in

identification, assessment, and treatment: A report on the International Child

Neurology Association Meeting on ASD in Africa, Ghana, April 3-5, 2014. Journal

of Child Neurology, 31, 1018-1026. doi:10.1177/0883073816635748

 

Smith, L., Malcolm-Smith, S., & de Vries, P. J. (2017). Translation and cultural

appropriateness of the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-2 in Afrikaans.

Autism, 21, 552-563. doi:10.1177/1362361316648469