Name: Cynthia
Born (approximately): 1985
Transferred to Hand in Hand: Jan. 1998
From: Mental Hospital Accra
Further information:
-Parents unknown, unknown where she was found.
-Intellectual handicap, autistic.
-Caregiver: Alidya
-Financial adoption 2006: Gailing Family, Germany.
Cynthia
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Cynthia has spent many years (no one can remember how long at the mental hospital) at the children ward of the psychiatric hospital in Accra. Cynthia is deeply autistic and mentally handicapped. She has not spoken yet but understands more than outsiders on first sight might assume. She tolerates eye contact but can get happily exited when someone touches her head or holds her hands. Sometimes she takes someone's hand and holds it for hours. She may also grab your hand and lay it on her head as if to say it is time for my caresses now. At times she makes rhythmical movements with her upper body which communicates an overdose of excitement. She hardly uses her arms except when she sits at the sheltered workshop and works with beads. Even then it is more of a passive holding up the needle where she expects that someone else may put a bead over the needle. She holds the beads in her other hand and waits. She is happy at the workshop for it is a very safe place with a quiet pleasant atmosphere. Cynthia is good at showing what she wants. She can make you suddenly sit down on a chair or bench besides her. If she wants to be touched on her scalp or hold hands you know already what she does. Strangers may feel forced to, somewhat perplexed, sit for some time holding hands with her. Cynthia thrives on a regular daily routine. Every day, immediately after breakfast, she runs to the workshop to take her place. Other certainties are the daily swimming hour and the evening TV time. She absolutely does not want to diverge from her steady pattern. |
