Interview with a mother of autistic individual and her contribution to medical teaching: an experience report

Abstract

Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a syndrome which affects 70 million people worldwide, 2 million of them only in Brazil, according to the World Health Organization. Given this, the bond between children with ASD in their socio-school environment is still complicated due to the lack of understanding of the subject by the individuals around them. Due to the population's lack of awareness on the subject, the perpetuation of stereotypes is remarkable and corroborates the presence of stigmas and prejudgments, jeopardizing even further the individual's socialization. The present report aimed to show the experience of medical students interviewing the mother of an autistic individual, and how this activity helped to understand the syndrome and how to deal with a patient with ASD. Therefore, the experience of interviewing the mother of an autistic person, through an online platform, brought questions to the personal and professional development of the students, as they were faced with a completely different reality. At the end of the interview, the prejudices, the difficulties of inclusion and accessibility that individuals with autism spectrum experience were highlighted, being essential a greater dedication and responsibility to improve their quality of life. In addition, it highlights the importance of this experience for the construction of the doctor-patient relationship among the students, as it promotes a more humanized Medicine, by making them see different points of view.