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Anjana Chandramouly

`Rehabilitation counsellors can facilitate the movement of disabled people into the world of work.'

As you wait with a group of people for your turn to be introduced to Dr George S. Baroff, you can see him in a conversation with a young boy, barely 13 years old. A little while later, he turns around and gives you a warm smile. "She is from a newspaper," says his colleague, and Dr Baroff looks stunned. "Newspaper? I didn't do anything," he chuckles. A retired professor from the University of North Carolina in the US, octogenarian Dr Baroff has vast experience in the field of mental retardation. His book, Mental Retardation: Nature, Cause and Management, acts as a guide for many institutions dealing with the malady. Over the past 20 years, there has been a tremendous growth in community programmes for people with developmental disabilities or mental retardation and other conditions, he says.

But even as programmes are on the rise, is there an increase in the number of children affected? "As far as I can tell, the number of children born with mental retardation in the US is not different from what it was 10 years ago. But there are some conditions that seem to have had a growth... one of them is called autism, which has had an extraordinary growth in what we call prevalence," says Dr Baroff.On the increase in autism, he says that children are now probably classified as autistic on symptoms that are now better diagnosed and probably missed in earlier years. But now there is a spectrum of autism ranging from the most extreme to the least extreme. In the least extreme form children have some autistic features but are not intellectually impaired. But children who have full-blown autism usually do have some mental retardation or a combination of problems.

"It is because of the broadening of the diagnostic criteria rather than a real increase in the number of retarded children that we come to know of more autistic cases. It is true that parents of autistic children have been vocal about what might be causing autism. But nowhere to my knowledge is there a specific cause for the disorder."

But what is really heartening is that today parents find assistance in bringing up an autistic child, he says. They not only have guidance, but also people who are interested in helping them. "Pre-school programmes provide assistance to these parents when their children are infants, the parents have contact with other parents, they discover that they are not alone and that they have a peer group, others with whom they can talk to... I think that the pre-school programme is a tremendous boon to parents," he says.

Dr Baroff then leads us through the history of vocational rehabilitation counsellors in the US, right from the days when rehabilitation counselling was mainly offered for war veterans during World War I to the present-day scenario. Rehabilitation counselling is something close to his heart, he reveals, adding that he has written a book on this because "I felt there were no books for these counsellors. Most bookswere oriented only around children and education. So I tried to write a book that dealt not only with childhood and school, but also the counsellors and their importance. Rehabilitation counsellors are very important in facilitating the movement of retarded and other disabled people into the world of work."

His expertise has been put to good use by the judiciary in the US. It was in 1987 that he was first invited to assess the mental condition of a person who had confessed to murder. From then on, he has been involved in the investigation of many cases. "Well, now I have a question for you," he interrupts. "Are there any laws in India that deal with people with mental retardation?" he asks and when the response is a `no', he clarifies that he needs information for his next book on such laws.

And just as we are about to wind up the conversation, he says something that sounds completely alien. To the confused look in response he breaks into laughter. "See, nobody understands my French here! I said `Good Bye'."

Picture by Bijoy Ghosh

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