African-American culture says that all children are to be viewed as important; this belief is reflected in their family values and morals and is also reinforced by the church, (Hernandez, D. J., et. al., 2009). Native Hawaiian culture also believes that having a child with Autism is actually normal and that this child along with every other child is a valued member of the family and community. The abilities or lack of abilities that a child may have has no effect on the value of a child, (Dyches, T., Wilder, L., Sudweeks, R., Obiakor, F., & Algozzine, B., 2004). These examples show that even within cultures there are different beliefs about what should be done with children with Autism. It may simply come down to the specific family and how they view Autism within themselves, which determines how they will treat their child with autism. This in turn may affect how the teacher goes about teaching the child with Autism.
Thus, family support within cultures is an important factor that a teacher should be made aware of. Knowing what kind of support a child has at home can affect the way the child learns when they are at school. Regardless of what kind of life the child has at home and with their family, evidence indicates that multicultural students have more difficulty with the academic and behavioral customs of the school culture than do students from the dominant culture, (Hernandez, D. J., et. al., 2009). Thus, a teacher should be as willing as possible to help their multicultural students, especially those who have Autism and other disabilities.
For our paper we decided to do some brief research on what was like to live specifically as an Indian-American child with Autism. In the United States the prevalence of Autism is estimated to be 1 in 100 people, which is pretty high; and this number changes daily, (www.mugsy.org/connor1.html.) If we take that same estimation and compare it to India's current population India would have approximately 2 million people with Autism.