World Autism Day | they are trying to live the life of "ordinary people"

How much effort do autistic youth have to do in order to integrate into society?

Did you know that there are currently more than 10 million people with autism in China? Autism is generally found in childhood, these children have different degrees of loss of social sexual function, in speech development, social interaction and behavior patterns are very special, so they are called "children of the stars".

The "children of the stars" will also grow up, and autism is only a part of them, not all of them. They will also face life problems such as work and employment, interpersonal communication, and independent life like every ordinary young person.

However, even after years of intervention training, how to cope with high-pressure work environments, how to deal with complex interpersonal relationships, and even the "simplest" problems of how to live independently after their parents are old are still very challenging for them, especially for the entire family behind them.

Therefore, on the 15th World Autism Awareness Day, "how to help the older autistic group better integrate into society" has become the core issue of our concern. Tencent Video Knowledge Channel, together with Tencent Public Welfare and One Psychology, jointly launched three public service videos, and conducted in-depth interviews with three young people with autism, their parents and expert doctors under the recommendation of Xiaogen Foundation and The Fusion China Project. The short film is filmed by Ryoko interview, hoping to present the survival status and plight of elderly autistic people from an objective and realistic perspective.

At the same time, Tencent Charity and Tencent Video will also jointly launch the "Little Red Flower Knowledge Action", which will deliver public welfare knowledge to the public in the form of videos for more public welfare themes in the future.

"What will happen to the child after I am gone?" ”】

How much effort does a child with autism need to put in as they grow up? Especially when he becomes an adult, what can his parents do to help him? What should the child do after the parents are gone? On these questions, the story of Hehe and Dad may give us some answers.

Hehe was diagnosed at the age of two, and Hehe's father was ready to accompany him for intervention training for life from the beginning: "The so-called lifelong obstacle is that he was born in my family, then I have to take care of him." He tried almost all treatment routes: going to professional institutions, checking materials for self-study, forming a parent community, etc., and these efforts have indeed made Hehe gradually change.

Of course, sometimes Hehe's sudden destructive behavior will also give him a headache, smashing mobile phones, smashing tables, hitting heads... In the face of these challenges, he has always believed in a kind of "gentle persistence", that is, in the face of some social rules that Hehe must accept but is unwilling to accept, he will bear his challenging behavior and adhere to it in a gentle way. These "troubles" that make us feel pressured are not nothing in the eyes of Hehe's father, "Although you have a special child, but many people have an ordinary child, he will not be smooth sailing in this life, and he also encounters his challenges and problems." ”

However, Papa He's troubles come from the farther future. As Hehe grew up, he gradually discovered: "When a child leaves the compulsory education stage when he grows up, the help that the outside world can provide for him is a cliff-like decline." On the one hand, because most older people with autism are difficult to find employment, the social sexual abilities they have learned in the past high-intensity intervention and school life will be reversed because of the long-term home; on the other hand, parents will always age, "What will happen to the children after I am gone?" This is the "ultimate sorrow" that every parent with autism has to face.

In the face of such an ultimate problem, it is not enough to rely on the efforts of parents alone. At present, there are very few institutions serving the elderly autistic group, we need the support of more professionals and caring people, and parents should also help the service to develop as much as possible.

["Autism is a trait not a privilege"]

There are many misconceptions about the "children of the stars", one of which is that they must have artistic talent. In fact, for more autistic people, art is more of a healing method, a medium for their and social integration, a window.

In Bisnin, music has this effect. Si Ning began to learn piano at the age of 10, and later learned guzheng, and is currently a guzheng musician of the public welfare orchestra "Music for Love", "Fishing Boat Singing Evening" and "Shandan Dan Blossom Red" are her favorite songs that she often participates in.

In the eyes of Sining's mother, After being exposed to music, Sining has changed a lot, "Her attention, her ability to understand, her concentration, and her ability to express herself have gradually become more and more in this process." "More importantly, her life has expanded a lot. Music is like a bridge, connecting the lonely little world of Sining with the lives of more people. Through rehearsals and performances, she met all kinds of friends: international students, lawyers, musicians... People often eat, sing, go shopping, and ride together. Paying attention to the recent epidemic situation, Sining will also send WeChat to friends to let everyone do a good job of protection.

Now Sining can be regarded as a very "professional" performer, she will carefully match the costumes and makeup for the performance, and endure the long cold shooting environment in order to record the video. "Autism is her trait, not her privilege", mentioning this, Sining's mother is very proud, because it means that her daughter is getting more and more accustomed to the rules of this society, and it also means that her mother's ultimate wish is more likely to be fulfilled: "I hope that one day in the future, when I can't take her, she will go to a collective environment, and then give others the least trouble in this environment, and others will give her little support and she will be able to survive." 」 ”

Having a skill like Si Ning is indeed a possible path for older autistic people to live independently. "I personally don't think it's 10% for children who can go to high school or even college," Jia Meixiang, a doctor at Peking University's Sixth Hospital, told us, so she believes: "Most children should take the road of vocational skills training when they become adults." ”

【"I cherish the job of a designer"】

Among young people with autism, Li Jiayang may be "lucky" because he is the 10% that Dr. Jia said.

On the road of employment, Li Jiayang can be said to be the "predecessor" of many autistic youth. He is not only a college graduate majoring in digital media, but also proficient in painting, typesetting, public account operation, writing research reports, video editing and other skills. After changing jobs 4 times, he is now a designer. "I cherish this job" and "I hope to stay in first- and second-tier cities," Jiayang told us.

In fact, for Jiayang, compared with the content of work, it is more difficult to adapt to the environment, just like Jiayang's mother said: "The employment environment is more important than work." ”

For example, people with autism tend to be more emotionally sensitive than the average person: they don't understand jokes and subtext, they need to maintain a certain social distance, and even bad weather can make them feel extremely uncomfortable. However, the workplace is precisely a place that is most likely to arouse emotions, and the high-pressure working environment puts forward great requirements for emotional management ability, so autistic youth need to constantly carry out behavioral training before stabilizing their work, and make breakthroughs in workplace communication, self-emotional management, and anti-stress ability.

It is precisely through such a difficult process that Jiayang has failed again and again, and set off again and again with hope, and gradually embarked on the "right track of life" of an ordinary young person.

Jiayang's stable employment is also largely thanks to the tolerance and support of these colleagues now. Li Jiayang's employment counselor Qu Zhuo told us that autistic people may very much want to form friendly relationships with colleagues, but their actions often show a "strange" embarrassment because they do not conform to the social rules of adults in the workplace, so they especially need the love of colleagues.

Jiayang may be a rare example of successful employment, but in fact, as Professor Liu Dan of Tsinghua University said, there are many jobs in society with clear processes and solidified models that young people with autism can do through training. Especially in high-tech industries such as network information and digital media, there are some highly mechanical and highly focused jobs, in these scenarios, the stereotypical behavior of autistic youth has become professional behavior, and their "weakness" has become a guarantee for achievements.

In this regard, psychology professor Yue Xiaodong also called on more large enterprises to create job opportunities and employment environments for people with mental disabilities. I hope that with two-way efforts, more autistic youth can be integrated into society and no longer lonely!

【One step closer, into the world of autistic youth】

After watching these three public service videos, thank you for getting closer to the autistic youth again!

Do you want to know more about autism? From the causes of pathogenesis to psychological counseling for parents, from related movies to books, we have specially invited hundreds of Tencent Video [Knowledge Recommendation Officers] to take you into the world of autistic youth from all angles, pay attention to the "Goose Zhizhi" video number, let's watch it together

How do parents judge that their child has autism? What is timely intervention? Writer Hao Jingfang tells you!

How do children with autism spend their adolescence? What can families and society help? Come and listen to the professional advice of researcher Li Xinying of "scientific debunking"

At the same time, on this "World Autism Awareness Day", Tencent Video's "Douluo Continent" IP also joined hands with Tencent Public Welfare and the School of Animation and Digital Arts of Communication University of China to launch a long-term "Star Light" guardian plan, calling on fans and the public to pay attention to the autistic people around them, give understanding, acceptance and help, and be the guardian of the star light. It will gradually open up Douluo's rich visual assets, and successively launch activities such as guardian theme painting collection, painting exhibition, guardian theme seminar, etc., hoping to work with academia, medical community, industry enterprises and more public welfare organizations to let more people pay attention to the survival plight of autistic people with the help of IP influence and provide real help. The follow-up content of the Guardian Plan can be learned through the official public account of the Douluo Continent Soul Master World.

In the medical community, there is a growing view that autism is not a disease, but just a special type of nerve. Through simple medical means, these special children cannot be integrated into society, and only love can make them grow up not to be lonely!

On Tencent Video, search for "autism", watch more popular science videos, and help young people with autism integrate into society together!