Aadil Hoque

The Story of My Life

by Aadil Hoque

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This slideshow is from Aadil’s presentation at the 5th World Autism Awareness Day, 3rd April, 2012, Dhaka Medical College, Dhaka, Bangladesh organized by Bangladesh Society for Child Neurology, Development & Disability

for the text of this presentation click here.

About Aadil

As an infant Aadil was the picture of health and we were completely unaware of what a tremendous ordeal we were soon to face. He was happiest in the garden, stroking long strands of grass and leaves of plants. By the time he was two I was concerned about his scanty, hardly existent speech. I was baffled by the fact that he would watch a Jim Henson nursery rhyme video for hours with rapt attention Yet he would not look at me when I called his name. He began to tear paper, books, magazines, newspapers, anything in sight. Whenever I tried to stop him he would hide in a remote corner under his grandmother’s bed and would continue to tear paper all the more vigorously. Toys never appealed to him-he would scatter and throw his toys and blocks in every direction whenever I offered them. I was totally at loss as how to care for him. My days and nights merged into an endless nightmare. I was exhausted with clearing up after him-he would smear faeces all over himself, the floor, walls, furniture or any toys or books near him. If I was not cleaning, I was busy trying to console him as he would throw the most terrific tantrums even at an early age. I had no idea what he was upset about. These tantrums became more difficult to manage when he began to attack his sister Shaoli who was a year and a half older than him.
Out of sheer desperation and nowhere to turn to for support in Bangladesh, I left for Oxford, England in 1994 with my mother, Shaoli and Aadil (then aged four).Aadil was formally diagnosed as having autism and enrolled at the local autistic unit. His teacher Judy Holdsworth would take him to the unit and also worked with him at home and a local mainstream school. However, Aadil’s aggression escalated to such extremes, I had to lock Shaoli in her bedroom or send her to my brother Tipu’s house for days in a row to protect her from Aadil’s relentless attacks. It was only when I learned a different way of approaching Aadil while on a training programme at the Option Institute in the USA that the situation changed. On my return to Oxford I set up a home based educational and therapeutic programme for Aadil with a small group of highly motivated and dedicated teachers including Judy Holdsworth, Emily Cohen, Dan Fedorowich,  Anton Keyte and others. The programme was supported by the Oxford Local Education and Social Services and monitored by Richard Brooks of Oxfordshire Autism Services.
A breakthrough occurred soon after we started Aadil’s programme. Aadil became fascinated with images of Ancient Egypt,  which he first saw in a history atlas when he was six. This fascination was harnessed to teach him to speak, read, write and draw and paint. His hyperactivity and challenging behaviour improved considerably since being on a strict sugar free and gluten(wheat)and casein(milk) free diet.
In 2000 we returned to Bangladesh and the following year he was admitted to SWAC (Society for the Welfare of Autistic Children) which he still attends.
Aadil has settled very well in Bangladesh. He has a routine involving rigorous physical exercise and daily sensory therapy. He still requires some guidance with self help skills especially combing his hair and tying laces. A trio of dedicated and loving home tutors give him tremendous support in the areas of art, music, Bangla and religious studies. During leisure time he paints while listening to European classical music, sings his favourite Nazrul and Tagore songs or reads books from his extensive home library. He loves going to the British Council library every Saturday and is a regular visitor at exhibitions at various galleries in Dhaka.

A solo display of his art organized by his teachers in Oxford when he was ten inspired him to have more.He has to his credit several solo art exhibitions here in Bangladesh including his first in 2002 at Arial Centre followed by “Devotion” at the Bengal Gallery of Fine Art in 2005.In 2007 he jointly exhibited (‘’Retrospect”) with Shaoli at the Shilpangan gallery.Drik gallery was the venue for his exhibition ”For the Love of Egypt” in 2009.
In 2005 he was awarded a gold medal by the Egyptian Ministry of Culture for his watercolour entry ”Golden Cleopatra” in an international art competition. The award was presented to him by Begum Khaleda Zia who was prime minister of Bangladesh at the time.
A dream came true for Aadil in 2007 when Shaoli,  my brother Timmy and I took him to visit his beloved Egypt. We fulfilled his every wish, taking him from Alexandria in the north to the pyramids and sphinx at Giza and the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, traveling south to the temples at Luxor and Karnak and the nearby Valley of the Kings, then further south to Aswan and the magnificent temple at Abu Simbel. Aadil had the good fortune to meet his hero Dr.Zahi Hawass at the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Cairo.
Aadil has many more dreams and I hope I will be by his side to make each and every dream come true.

by Dr. Leedy Hoque