Autism Awareness in the Somali Community
Episode Overview
In this episode, Nura Aabe discusses her research about autism awareness in the Somali community. Nura discusses her outreach work in the community; how health and social care services can work better with culturally diverse groups; and her experience of being typecast as the BAME voice despite her achievements as a director of an autism support organisation and successful researcher.
“Culturally responsive approaches need to be embedded within services from the top to ensure that families can be supported in the most impactful way.”
“I can easily be put in a box as someone who is from the BAME community and could be perceived as a community researcher rather than as a PhD student. And therefore, I think society can easily shape people, putting them into boxes, completely dismissing that the level of their expertise has been overshadowed by their identity.”
“Over time you end up accepting it and it becomes normal, which his not normal! It's something as a society that needs challenging and to be looked at in terms of how we actually see the value someone adds in their capacity beyond their identity.”
About Nura Aabe
Current Role: PhD Student and Founder of Autism Independence
Episode Title: Autism Awareness in the Somali Community
Episode #: Series 2: Episode 1
Link to Episode: https://anchor.fm/afsana9/episodes/Season-2-Episode-1--Autism-Awareness-in-the-Somali-Community-eu5qkd/a-a5g0os
Nura Aabe is currently a PhD student at the University of Bristol, investigating autism in minority ethnic groups. Nura is the mother of a young man with autism and the founder of Autism Independence, a Bristol based organisation supporting Somali families with children with autism. Nura is also a non-executive director of Sirona Care & Health.
“There's a lot we need to learn in terms of really recognising individual capacity. Sometimes I do struggle about whether I need to bring up my personal story and background.”
Social Links
Twitter - @NuraAabe