"Genius Son" Brush Screen: The Plight of the Mentally Handicapped Should Be "Seen"

Recently, an article "Our Genius Son" swept the whole network. In his own way, the octogenarian father, Jin Sexyong, showed the story of his son Jin Xiaoyu's struggle against the cruel fate through the translation of foreign works in the past few decades, as well as the experience of their family not abandoning and supporting each other.

Moving is the most original reflection of public opinion. We are touched by Jin Xiaoyu, as a patient with mental disorders, who still has a strong view of the world after experiencing eye disabilities and diagnosing bipolar disorder, and still "singing back" to the world, touched by the deep affection of Jin Sexyong and his wife, who have endured the burden for many years as a father and mother, and also moved by the deep affection of Jin Xiaoyu as a son in the last three years of his mother's Alzheimer's disease, breaking through the shackles of the disease and almost inseparable from the meticulous care... In the face of a story that reaches people's hearts and makes people cry, the public is moved, in fact, it is also the embodiment of the most simple and natural human nature.

Admittedly, Jin Xiaoyu was unfortunate, and his serious mental illness broke the "genius wing" that should have shined more in the translation world and even in the literary world; but at the same time, he was also lucky. The translation talent that is different from ordinary people, the original family of high-level intellectuals, and the introduction of such a network resource as the professor of Nanda around his mother, at least did not let him sink in the inaction of his life. In particular, given today's well-known and high social respect and recognition, it is likely that the future of life will not be as bumpy as in the past.

However, stripping away the halos of "genius", "Kochi's original family", "parents' rich social relationship network" and so on, what remains may be the most common situation for the majority of ordinary mental disorder patients.

I clearly remember that in the elementary school I attended as a child, there was a younger student who suffered from mental retardation. In the same small town, the crampedness of the circle determines how much each family knows about each other's situation. It has been said that her disease is family inherited. The misfortune of the original family, the cognitive behavior ability that is weaker than ordinary people, and the defects in congenital appearance, resulting in this student sister often being bullied by the students of the same school. The most common scenario is when a group of boys and girls verbally abuse and throw small stones at her, while many people around them, even myself, remain silent. Adults warn that such "abnormal" children have violent tendencies and need to stay away, while the attitude of school teachers is at best to stop the violence of others... Years later, when they met again, they saw her, dressed in shabby clothes, and her grandmother, who was also mentally handicapped, scavenging in the street.

Another example is a recent media article, a college graduate, a woman with foreign language expertise, more than thirty years old, several years of experience in foreign trade business, but the job search was rejected, the reason is "we do not invite mental illness patients", and finally she found only a manual job with a monthly salary of no more than 500 yuan. And because of the recurrence of the old disease encountered by the job search, she was re-admitted to the hospital.

Different stories, the same tragedies, together reflect the dilemma that some people with mental disorders in today's society may face - walking alone in the shadow of discrimination, stigma, and poverty.

In 2018, a xinhua report showed that by the end of 2017, the number of registered patients with severe mental disorders in the mainland had reached 5.81 million. 5.81 million, this set of data is obviously a "decimal" relative to 1.4 billion people, but specific to each individual, each family, it means great misfortune, which means that there may be millions of individuals and even families, far behind the ordinary people's living conditions.

A society with temperature should never let any special group be forgotten in a corner. Today, in addition to being touched by the "genius translator" Jin Xiaoyu, we may also try to learn to "hold the salary" for the wider range of mental disorder patients. This not only includes winning more empathy, understanding and respect for this special group through the popularization of common sense of mental health and improving social cognition at the spiritual level, but also includes building a more perfect rescue and support system at the material level.

For example, in view of the current discrimination in the workplace against patients recovering from mental disorders, can relevant institutional support or more policies be introduced to encourage social inclusion? For another example, according to the severity of the disease of patients with different mental disorders, can a corresponding employment training system be established to enhance their future livelihood ability? For example, in view of the fact that some patients' integration into social life is hindered, or even their legitimate rights and interests are damaged, can a linkage mechanism between the community, legal aid institutions and relevant government departments be established to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of individuals living on an equal footing?

In the final analysis, we should read a truth from Jin Xiaoyu's story: in a loving society, no individual should be abandoned, and what can truly support some special individuals in the future is closely related to the goodwill released by individuals, families, communities and even the whole society.

Text/Hongxin Xu (Zhengzhou University)