Society

Autistic children: You're not alone

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-05-31 15:00
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Autistic children: You're not alone
An autistic child (R) plays with a volunteer before painting during a Children’s Day event at Mo Box Books shop in Beijing, May 30, 2010. [Photo/Xinhua]

Even the cost of the public schools can nearly bankrupt a family, as only one parent usually has time to work, while the other must look after their child all the time. To add to the their struggle, a number of families have to leave their hometown and rent flats in big cities so to ensure their children get proper care.

Zhong Xueping's family is from Hubei province. His wife and him sell clothes in Beijing for a living. "We barely make ends meet after the tuition is paid, and we can only afford to rent a small basement," he says.

As to what kind of future the kids can have, Long Jianyou, the president of Anhua School, says, "In the best scenario, graduates from Anhua' s vocational high school can find employment."

Anhua caters for children from pre-school through to high-school ages.

This year, 12 of the graduates  have already found jobs in reputable hotels, doing fairly menial jobs such as changing bed sheets. "They could earn as much as 1,700 yuan a month, " says Long.

"The employers offering jobs to our kids are all China-based foreign companies," says Long.

"There is not a single domestic company doing this. They might employ physically disabled persons, but never those mentally challenged," Long says, blaming Chinese people's poor understanding of autism for this.

Zhong Xueping says his family is discriminated against because people think their child is some kind of lunatic. "We sell clothes in a market, and when my boy crawls into others' stands, they shun him away like he's an idiot."

Talking about their child's future, Wang Hongli, mother of a 10-year-old boy who's just started to show symptoms of autism, believes her son could do a lot better. She hopes one day her boy can socialize like normal kids.

She's going to send her son back to normal school this autumn. But he will probably need a tutor which could cost 2,000 yuan a month at least.

Wang comes from a small city in northeast China's Liaoning Province. Because there is no such special schools in her hometown, she took time off work and brought her boy all the way here for schooling.

Even in Beijing, there were no special schools for young children suffering for autism six years ago. Long Jianyou, the president of Anhua, says "We only realized recently that the earlier autism is diagnosed and treated, the better people fare later in life, so we started this autistic nursery."

China has incorporated a plan for training autistic children into the country's development blueprint for 2006-2012, which specifies the building of autistic training facilities in 31 pilot cities, and training of professionals to diagnose and train autistic children.

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