His name is Zheng Min.
Nine years ago, photographer Zheng Min was pulled by a friend to an autistic family gathering.
In the midst of the noise, there was a child with wide eyes, no focus, quietly holding a banana and eating it for half an hour.
He felt a soft spot in his heart being hit and couldn't help but press the shutter.
This shot is nine years, Zheng Min used the camera in his hand to build a bridge between the autistic group and the public. From the first contact with the autistic group, in the past 9 years, Zheng Min has taken more than 30 "star children" and families, more than 100,000 photos, trying to present the true appearance of this group and enhance the understanding and support of society for the autistic group.
In Zheng Min's shot, there is a little boy named Ah Fu, and Ah Fu's father takes care of him more than any mother in the world. Afu is like a clock with less clockwork and no battery, and it must be dialed to move. All the things in his life are arranged by Fu Dad, and he has to do a few things every day, accurate to what hours and minutes, everything is big and small, he is tired of it, and what praise words are used on Fu Dad.
But it is such a father, once when rehearsing a show at home, because there was a parent-child hug action, this photo records that When Ah Fu's brother and mother hugged, they were very natural and full of affection, and when Dad went to hug Ah Fu, his reaction was instinctive rejection.
When taking this photo, Zheng Min said: His heart is very uncomfortable. But many children with autism have such a condition. For example, frame frame, his mother prepared a table for him to eat, but he did not allow his mother to sit next to him when eating, this photo is that the frame mother can only hide on the balcony far away to watch him eat.
Ah Fu showed instinctive resistance to his father's embrace,
It's a stark contrast to my brother.
Frame frame when eating without keeping mom around,
Mom could only hide on the balcony and watch from a distance.
Zheng Min told reporters in the interview: Among the stars he photographed, although serious self-harm and violence are not too common, many children have symptoms of stereotype and obsessive-compulsive disorder, which is actually an invisible violence. When shooting at Kiki's house, his obsessive-compulsive behavior made him feel broken, everything in his mother's bag had to be placed in a fixed position, everything that could move in the house had to be placed according to his wishes, and he kept drinking water and going to the toilet, unable to imagine how his mother survived.
And these parents have been in a high-pressure environment for a long time, and there should be corresponding social service agencies to provide them with a chance to breathe.
Ajay (20 years old). 1 meter 8 head strong body, an emotional attack on the hands of people and bumping people, whether it is to his father and mother or strange passers-by, has repeatedly pushed (bumped) passers-by, apologies and compensation has become a common thing. Frightened, Jie Dad and Jie Mom did not dare to take him out easily.
Like Zheng Min, it was she who picked up the camera to record autistic children, Kate Miller.
Unlike Zheng Min, she herself is the parent of an autistic child, from sadness to anger, and from anger to acceptance, she has been on this difficult road for a long time.
She said she would always love her son unconditionally, whether he was a beautiful, humorous, or whatever kind of child he was. In this photo, Kate Miller's son looks at himself through a reflection in the mirror, the first time he's looked directly at Kate Miller, though only as a reflection.
One of the gifts of Kate Miller's son is the ability to focus on something particularly complex for a long time, such as puzzle solving.
But for Kate Miller, the best gift her son's autism has given her is not a talent for math or music, but his ability to see the world in a unique and poetic light. Kate Miller, who photographs her son through the glass, says she always feels a barrier between her and him, like this photo, where she can see her son but can't really touch her.
Children with autism are very different from ordinary children, and their perceptual treatment of things is often beyond the understanding of ordinary people, for example, they like to know something through sound and taste first. Kate Mille thinks it's also a gift for his own children, because he knows the world in a way he never tried before.
About autism
World Autism Day is celebrated on 2 April each year, and a multi-point understanding of autism helps to eliminate discrimination, prejudice and exclusion of children with autism.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), also known clinically as autism, is a group of neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by social communication disorders, narrow interests or range of activities, and repetitive stereotyped behaviors. People describe autistic children as "children of the stars" because they seem to have a way of thinking that does not belong to earthlings, unable to communicate with people normally, as if they were from distant planets.
Is autism caused by a lack of love?
When it comes to autism, many people think that it is because parents give too little care and love, but autism is actually a developmental disorder, which is a congenital disease, that is to say, autism has a great relationship with the innate development of children. Although the cause of autism is not fully understood, studies have shown that it may be a disease induced by environmental pathogenic factors under a certain genetic predisposition. The causes of autism can be summarized as the following 3 factors:
1. Genetic factors
In autistic people, the incidence of boys is about 4 to 5 times that of girls, so there are studies that believe that the causative gene originates from the father; some chromosomal abnormalities may lead to the occurrence of autism, and there are new reports of candidate genes for autism every year, suggesting that autism is a polygenic genetic disease.
2. Infection and immune factors
Known associated pathogens include rubella virus, cytomegalovirus, varicella-zoster virus, herpes simplex virus, treponema pallidum, and toxoplasma gondii. Some people speculate that the antibodies produced by these pathogens enter the fetus from the placenta, and cross-immune response with the developing nervous system of the fetus interferes with the normal development of the nervous system, resulting in the occurrence of autism.
3. Stimulation of physical and chemical factors during pregnancy
A history of valproate antiepileptic drugs and bad habits such as smoking and alcohol abuse in the first trimester can lead to an increased probability of autism in offspring. The famous "reaction stop" event in 1959 also found that in addition to causing infantile deformities ("seals"), the drug also increased the incidence of autism.
Can autism be cured?
Autism is also divided into "high-functional autism" and "low-functional autism", high-functioning autism patients can grow into more independent and fulfilling individuals through some external support, more normal integration into society; and those low-functioning autistic patients may need the help of parents and others for a long time, let it develop without intervention training, and may even have cognitive communication degradation.
At present, there are no specific drugs for the core symptoms of autism. While no specific drug can cure autism, some psychotropic drugs may improve some of the symptoms of the disorder and facilitate educational training. Studies have confirmed that the young brain has experience expectations and experience-dependent synapse formation, that is, we often say plasticity, acquired appropriate and rich environmental factors can make the brain of autistic children with congenital developmental disorders return to the normal development track, so autism treatment is generally considered to be the younger the age, the better the effect, the factors affecting the prognosis mainly include: IQ, whether there is communicative language at the age of 5, education and training.
(Image from the Internet)
bibliography:
Expert Consensus on Early Identification Screening and Early Intervention of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Developmental Behavior Group of The Science Branch of Chinese Medical Association, Child Health Care Professional Committee of Pediatric Branch of Chinese Medical Doctor Association, and Expert Group on Diagnosis and Prevention Technology and Standards for Childhood Autism Diagnosis and Prevention. Chinese Journal of Pediatrics, 2017. 55(12): 890-897.
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