Parents Need Support for Children living with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder and other Disabilities.

Dana Foster of Valley TV speaks with Bonnie McBride, who is an FASD advocate. This month is FASD Awareness month and McBride shares how parents need more support for children living with FASD and other disabilities.
 

FASD stands for fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. There are a range of symptoms and conditions that affect children and adults who have had prenatal exposure to alcohol. The problem can come about if the mother has just a small amount of alcohol, especially at the beginning of the pregnancy.

Those children in particular work with FASD have a lot of challenges including emotional dis-regulation, behaviours and sometimes there can be some intellectual deficits.

"(There are) all sorts of challenges.” Bonnie said, “and it's been a long time getting those children recognized and getting their families and themselves supported in the community and in the schools, so we just continue to build awareness around that and that there needs to be inclusion for these kids.”

During the interview Dana asks, “Why do you think that there has been such a delay in supporting these children?”

Bonnie went on to share that there's a stigma attached to FASD and women who drink in their pregnancy and it used to be common to talk to people about the fact that FASD is 100% preventable but it ireally isn't there anymore. There are lots of reasons a woman might be consuming alcohol during pregnancy.

“We haven't done a very good job of supporting women, especially marginalized women, indigenous women, in ways that support them so that they don't drink alcohol... They need to not drink alcohol during pregnancy”

She continued to explain that some it was stigma related and further explained that a report in 2021 found there's a lot of racial discrimination involved in how society screens kids living through the FASD.

She continued to say that “there's a lot of systemic things going on, a lot of challenges that have made it a bit easier to push these kids to the side rather than come up underneath them with full support.”

Watch the full interview above to hear further information.