“No fear, No fear!” How Diwali night turned into a nightmare for children with Autism

Non-stop assault of fire crackers shuddered the peace of Kolkata residents two consecutive nights. The loud sounds and the polluted air turned the festivals of Kalipujo and Deepaboli a nightmare for animals as well as babies, elderly and the general population. Another set of people suffered silently and our social media feed was filled with anguished posts by mothers of children with autism.

It is a well known fact that loud noise affects persons who live with Autism Syndrome. Mother of a 17 year old adolescent wrote poignantly in a leading Bengali daily how her son cried whole night, shuddering at the sound of every new fire cracker. Another mother spoke in a Facebook live session of how her agitated son was chanting "Bhoi Nei, Bhoi Nei" ( No fear, No fear) throughout the night trying to calm himself down, assuring himself not to be afraid. The families will remember such sleepless nights for very long and remain worried about the next festival. As families having neurodiverse members started pouring in their anguish, we heard from persons with other disabilities too. A mother wrote about troubles faced by her son with Cerebral Palsy during this festive season as loud noise perplexes him too. The mother of a young woman with Cerebral Palsy talked about the pollution that this festival brought in. She stays in a busy street of North Kolkata, where pollution level remains high throughout the year. But this Deepaboli, her daughter started having pre asthmatic attacks. The family is apprehensive as the young woman had to be hospitalised previously due to breathing troubles. Unfortunately, our health facilities are not properly equipped with support systems for people with autism or any kinds of intellectual disabilities. Sometimes doctors fail to understand what their patients are saying as their way of communication may be different from the usual crowd of their patients. It is natural for these families to become anxious about any medical emergency that might come as a result of such mindless behaviour in the name of festivities.

Unfortunately, many such families faced negative comments when they spoke about their anxiety. " If your son cannot stand loud noises during Kalipujo, send him to Bangladesh " , one mother was told. " If your child's body doesn't stop trembling on a Hindu festival night, she has no right to stay here" was another comment.

However, the issue was never against a Hindu festival. We have court orders that fixed decibels of fire crackers. We have Government orders giving us fixed timings for bursting crackers. Our neurodiverse and disabled people faced problems because no one was following the Government order and the High Court order.

Kolkata was always known for its kindness towards its diverse population - can we turn this city to a place where people with disabilities live with fear? In the name of festivities, can we create a situation where our fellow citizens find it difficult to breathe? Deepaboli is supposed to light up the lives of all of us, and persons with neurodiversity, autism or intellectual disabilities should become part of this festival of lights.