Government employees who have children suffering from autism will be exempted from routine transfers and they will not be asked to take voluntary retirement on refusing such postings, the Centre said today.

The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has issued an order including autism in the category for disabled children whose parents (government employees) are exempted from transfer.

"Considering the fact that the autism spectrum disorder child requires constant caregiver support and it would be imperative for the government employees to take care of their autism spectrum disorder child on continuous basis, it has been decided to include 'Autism' in the term 'disabled'," it said in its directive issued to all central government ministries and departments for compliance.

Autism is a mental condition characterised by great difficulty in communicating.

A government employee with a disabled child serves as the main caregiver and any displacement of such employee will have a bearing on the systemic rehabilitation of the child since the new environment or set up could prove to be a hindrance for rehabilitation process, it said.

"Therefore, a government servant who is also a caregiver of disabled child may be exempted from the routine exercise of transfer or rotational transfer subject to the administrative constraints," the DoPT said.

The word disabled includes blindness or low vision, hearing impairment, locomotor disability or cerebral palsy, leprosy, mental retardation, mental illness and multiple disabilities, it had said in an earlier order.