Transcript

PRITHVI:

A lot of work my work has been around Asian and African communities in the UK, I suppose. And eye contact has been a big issue. Because as probably people from those backgrounds understand, giving eye contact to an adult or to somebody in authority is considered as extremely rude in those cultures. So children are actively taught not to give eye contact, because giving eye contact is almost challenging somebody. So you are supposed to look down or avoid eye contact.

And again, because even diagnostic tools aimed at children as young as 18 months or three years focus so much on lack of eye contact as one of the initial features of autism, professionals could think the child is not giving eye contact, does that mean that they are on the autistic spectrum? So I think some of these features are based on what are the norms for western children and perhaps are not always as transferable for children or young people coming from different parts of the world.