New Initiatives And Resources Across Canada
by Dorothy Badry and Donna Debolt
Imagine being unable to do something, despite your best efforts, and yet other people constantly assuming that you are able. They think you won’t do it -- you know you can’t do it. You can’t do it because alcohol destroyed thought patterns and connections long before you were born. It isn’t your fault, but sometimes society, your parents, your friends, your teachers think it is.
Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is often a hidden disability where perception is far from reality. Unrealistic expectations of a person who has FAS and is desperately trying to fit in and live like everyone else often lead to failure. There are people with FAS in our jails, on our streets, institutionalized, and entrenched in a cycle of poverty.
People living with FAS are often misunderstood, misdiagnosed or simply unable to cope with day-to-day life without lifelong support. Awareness, clinical diagnosis of the condition, and long-term support are essential for the individual exposed prenatally to alcohol or drugs.
Fetal alcohol syndrome is a topic that generates a great deal of interest. The Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA) published a policy discussion paper in 1995 entitled "Fetal Alcohol Syndrome: An Issue of Child and Family Health." The Alberta Medical Association (AMA) has drafted a set of guidelines for clinical practice for physicians which deals with the diagnosis of FAS and addresses the various disabilities regarding prenatal exposure to alcohol. The guidelines also address prevention and advise that "no alcohol is best."
FAS is the most preventable cause of cognitive disability. In fact, it could be eradicated through abstention from alcohol during pregnancy. Other related conditions include alcohol-related neurological disorders (ARND), alcohol-related birth defect (ARBD) and neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), which is the infant s postnatal withdrawal from ingested substances by the mother such as narcotics, including heroin, morphine and cocaine.
At the 1999 Prairie Conference on fetal alcohol syndrome held at the University of Calgary, Dr. Margaret Clarke of Alberta Children s Hospital presented the draft guidelines of the AMA. They state that "a systematic drinking history is essential and should be obtained from all patients during the initial history and in subsequent prenatal care." Other criteria include physical and neurological features and visible characteristics such as facial abnormalities, growth failure and "abnormalities of cognition, language and behaviour." A diagnosis of FAS is complex and carries serious consequences for the individual, their family and caregivers.
