District 18 News
Written by: District Licheng
2021-04-02 08:00
Last update date: 2021-04-02 08:00
Today (2nd) is the United Nations World Autism Awareness Day, but over the years, many parents with children with autism still suffer discrimination.
Jack was diagnosed with autism when he was young. He was yelled at by passers-by for touching strangers. There were also passers-by who "bounced off" because he made strange noises while riding in transportation. .
Mother Li believes that the public still does not know enough about autism, saying that they can only work hard to discover the potential of their son, and at the same time fight for the rights and interests of autistic children with more fellow travelers, so that the public can understand and accept every autism. child.
According to data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last year, one in 54 children has autism.
This 16-year-old Jack is a former student at the Heep Hong Society Special Child Care Center. He is currently in junior high school. He has deteriorated in language skills when he was over one year old and did not make eye contact with other people. He often paced back and forth. He was diagnosed as moderate by preschool assessment Intellectual disability and overall developmental delay.
Mother Li Tai recalled that her mood was inevitably depressed at the moment, and she was repeatedly criticized on the street, which made her feel aggrieved.
Going to a teahouse and being verbally abused and being discriminated against by MTR
Taizhi Li took a young Jack to a restaurant to drink tea. While waiting, Jack shot his hand between the back of a male tea customer and the back of the chair. The tea customer cursed Jack with foul language; tried again. Once in a MTR carriage, Jack was muttering to himself and playing with his fingers, and a girl next to him "bounced" upon seeing this.
Mrs. Li said that because most people don't know Jack has a sensory integration disorder, they like the sensation of being lightly pressed on their hands. This is not surprising because the public does not understand autism and mistakes them for mental illness.
However, Mrs. Li did not go down. She looked for different treatments and trainings for her son, such as occupational therapy, speech therapy, and music therapy.
Mrs. Li recalled that he was evaluated before graduation from the Heep Hong Society and was still rated as moderately mentally handicapped. Psychologists also advised Jack to enroll in a special school, but Mrs. Li did not want to limit his son’s abilities and did not want him to have fewer opportunities than others. So he tried to re-study at the Heep Hong Society Special Child Care Center for another year, and he personally tutored his son in Chinese and English and other subjects, and hired a private preschool tutor for additional training.
After a year of hard work, the evaluation report before graduation showed that Jack had improved from moderate to mild intellectual disability, and successfully entered mainstream primary and secondary schools.
Discover talents and win the gold medal for painting
Jack is currently studying in a mainstream school. Although he may not be able to express himself as fluently as other school children, he still does not hinder his other talents.
Under the careful guidance of his painting teacher, he turned into paintings the feelings that could not be expressed in ordinary language, and successfully won the appreciation and support of many friends, which increased his sense of success.
With the encouragement of friends, he participated in the 2018 China-Japan Youth Art Festival (Asian Youth Art Festival) and won the painting gold medal.
Mrs. Lee said: "My son did not perform well in his studies, but I will actively encourage him to develop different talents, such as skating, taekwondo, street dancing, tennis, football, piano, disabled equestrian, drumming, etc., and try to use his other skills. Life can also be wonderful.”
Mrs. Li had unfortunately suffered from lupus erythematosus more than ten years ago. She was once in critical condition and stayed in the hospital for a month. She laughed and said that she felt "dead and resurrected" at the time. She hoped that the life earned here would provide more support. As a fellow traveler, she set up a parent group to organize a group of autistic parents. Later, she became the director of the Consolidated Parents Association of Heep Hong Association. She hopes to support each other with her fellow travellers, and can also exert unity and strength to fight for more rights and interests for children with special needs. .
Mrs. Li said: "As a parent of a SEN child, you must not be discouraged. In addition to actively exploring your child's talents and preparing for his future life, you should also share pressure with fellow travelers, take care of your personal emotions, and strive for what your child deserves. At the same time, the public should also understand and understand children with autism. They should know that they have their own talents and can definitely contribute to society and reduce the discriminatory gaze of society towards them."
My son is not good at school, but I will actively encourage him to develop different talents.
Said Mrs. Li.
(Picture provided by Heep Hong Society)
Fellow travellers support to increase positive energy
Wu Fengzhi, director of the Fu Cheong Center of the Heep Hong Society, said that parents with children with autism often face a lot of pressure, especially when the child is first diagnosed, it will inevitably be as frustrated as Mrs. Li, worrying about whether he is capable of taking care of the child. , Also worried about the child’s development and way out: "We suggest that parents should not indulge in these negative emotions. Instead, they need to calm down, organize their thoughts on how to help their children, and take active actions to seize the time to nurture their children, especially not to miss the age of 6 The golden learning stage. There is a lot of information to support parents in raising children with special needs and dealing with personal emotions. Parents should make good use of it so that they have more positive energy to nurture their children. Parents may wish to participate in such as Heep Hong Society Parent Resource Center and Parent organizations such as the Heep Hong Association and Tongxin Parents Association promote communication and exchanges between parents, encourage parents to help each other, and raise parents' awareness of rehabilitation services, and strive for the benefits and rights of their children."
In response to the United Nations setting April 2 as the World Autism Awareness Day each year, Heep Hong Society organized Autism Awareness Week in the first week of April. It is hoped that through a series of Autism Awareness Week publicity and promotion, The public understands and accepts people with autism and join hands to create an inclusive society.
This year, with the theme of "#A+美好" (#ColorfulAutism), in addition to designing six cartoon characters to represent different autistic characteristics, it also specially joined the six popular illustrators in the city, including Xie Shapi and Wen Di Mao , Strange Uncle’s Promenade, Dangdang@猫室(din-dong), Slut New Century, Roadside Stalls teamed up to bring out the characteristics of autism with comics, and through outdoor advertising and various celebrities including Mao Shunyun, Mori, Supported by Chen Zhijing, Chen Yuchen, Fang Jianyi, Ben Sir, Johnny, A Mei (Chen Leyi), etc., we called on the public to go to the Heep Hong Society Autism Awareness Week website to learn more about autism, and sign a pledge to understand and accept it immediately Children with autism.
Autistic youth wins two special Olympic silver medals Gu Dingxuan is a care ambassador: no one should be labeled
Loving father quit his full-time job to take care of his autistic son
Autistic woman with rare disease has scratched her body many times. Loving mother was accused of child abuse: God gave me a lesson
New crown pneumonia | Special school teachers use VR to teach autistic children to socialize and win the Innovation Teacher Award from Education City
01Community
Social Inclusion for Autism