On this day, this group of autistic young people moved towards the road of "getting rid of loneliness"

Grow up

"Artistic genius" on a global tour

Children who suffer from autism grow up.

Wei Yizhe, who was born in 1997, rarely said that he was one year old when talking about his age, and his mother Li Ruolan speculated, "He may not be willing to admit that he is very old." "The obligations and responsibilities represented by growing up, like the invisible elephant in the room, mother and child rarely talk about it.

When he was two and a half years old, Yizhe could not chew when he ate, and he could not speak for a long time, and when the doctor looked at him, he was diagnosed as a "typical autism, lifelong incurable". Autism - this term has made Li Ruolan collapse against the cute-looking Wei Yizhe for many years.

She slowly learned that children with autism have social interaction disorders or stereotyped behaviors, most of which are accompanied by varying degrees of developmental delay. Because the way of thinking is different from ordinary people, "like coming from a distant planet", they are called "children of the stars". She perked up, "survived every episode of his", contacted the autistic parent group in society, and explored integrated education step by step.

When he was six years old, he was sent to the Guangzhou Children's Palace to learn to paint, crying and making trouble, and could not sit still for half a year. But that year, he called out "Mom" for the first time. At the age of twelve, he began to learn piano, practicing for up to eight hours a day. Five years later, he took the Level 10 certificate. Before becoming an adult, he had appeared on the stage of many city theaters and toured the Americas and Europe. Wei Yizhe became an "artistic genius" who was vying for media coverage.

At the age of nineteen, he graduated from the secondary vocational class of Guangzhou Qizhi School.

Yi Zhe is a bit homely, "living a kind of artist's life" - he composes music all the time, "his spiritual world is very rich." Li Ruolan said.

In 2017, Wei Yizhe joined the Friedh Orchestra at the Second Children's Palace in Guangzhou. During the pandemic, he formed the Jazzy Pie Jazz Orchestra with three musicians. In the band, Ichizo works as a bassist and composer, and also practices piano, electronic organ (double row keys), classical guitar and composition. From time to time, they are also invited to commercial performances.

In an environment full of love and understanding, Yizhe has many opportunities to integrate into society and realize self-worth.

In the view of Ou Yongqiang, head of the Guangzhou Friends Service Association for Mentally Handicapped People, "If [mentally disabled people] don't have a good growth environment and are not employed at an old age, they will lie flat at home." Many young people with autism face the fringe of "graduation is unemployment" confusion.

The "children of the stars", when they grow up, they become young people who are easily overlooked in society.

And the story of Yi Zhe allows us to see that when the "children of the stars" grow up, most of them have a focused, docile heart, eager to find their place in society, and the public only needs to respond with understanding and tolerance to see their unlimited potential.

try

"The Boy Who Played with Lang Lang" was packed in a garment factory

At the autism concert in the same city, Wei Yizhe often saw Zheng Senyou - the piano and guitar have passed the tenth grade of music.

Zheng Senyou was diagnosed with autism when he was two years old, and was carefully cared for by his grandmother Xu Ping, and now he is a beautiful and white youth who likes to draw and music. When Zheng Senyou was in junior high school, he stood out by participating in a piano competition that lasted more than five months and became an "autistic teenager on the same stage with Lang Lang" on the Internet.

Many people see this talent as talent or luck, and few people know that practicing the piano is a challenge for autistic children over the years. In that preparation, Moritomo's right hand nail cap was covered with blood.

These large and small honors once made Grandma Xu Ping hope that one day Senyou can make a living from art, but he only waited for the teacher to say "rely on art, he can't live", Xu Ping listened, and tears fell down.

In July 2021, 19-year-old Zheng Senyou graduated from a normal vocational school.

"Thanks to a caring business." Xu Ping said. After graduation, Zheng Senyou got the opportunity to enter a clothing company and became a regular employee with a labor contract and five insurances and one gold.

When he first started working, Grandma Xu Ping often appeared to correct and guide the behavior and emotions of SenYou, such as training Senyou to get started working, overcoming the boredom of sitting for a long time, enduring the sudden ringing of the telephone, etc. In the limited lunch break, Xu Ping also set up another small stove for Senyou, so as not to affect other colleagues to use the kitchen. Colleagues are patient and friendly, in the eyes of colleague Aunt Lin, "Senyou is very cute, like a pistachio every day."

After training and familiarization, Zheng Senyou set off from his home alone at 6:25 every morning and arrived near the company at 7:00 to exercise. When he sat down at the workstation, he woke up the Bluetooth speaker with his voice, "played carmen of the National Symphony Orchestra of China", and then listened to the symphony in the warehouse room full of clothes and began to check and pack according to the quality of the order, sorting and packaging. Slowly, Xu Ping reduced the number of times he went to Senyou's company, and Senyou could slowly complete the work independently and occasionally work overtime and return late.

On the company's wall, there is a colorful poster pasted by Xu Ping. In the photo of the company's year-end annual meeting, the Mori friends at the party are in the middle of a circle of lively colleagues, wearing Jigong costumes, smiling happily.

Moritomo, who bravely tried and took the first step of integration into society, left a handwriting on a small red card in the New Year's message: "Make more money / Go to fireworks / Celebrate the New Year for the company."

progressive

Prolific photography maniacs become teachers' colleagues

The first time I met Zhou Dongrui, it was difficult for ordinary people to associate him with autism. He is one meter and eight tall, expresses clearly and fluently, is cheerful and smiles, and has the independent ability of people who are too similar. He was a "very capable" kid in the crowd.

It is even more difficult to imagine that in elementary school, he was pressured to withdraw from school by 17 parents because of behavioral problems, and when he returned home, his school bag had dirty shoe prints and his stationery was broken.

Zhou Dongrui's "ability" is attributed to her mother Liao Lina's extraordinary patience, love and methodical education model. Growing up, Liao Lina and her husband would take Dongrui with them wherever they went, and insisted that he attend ordinary schools, "paying the most attention to his self-confidence."

"He has loved photography since he was a child. When I was a child, Dong Rui, who could not sit still anywhere, stood in front of the huge real estate advertisement, attracted by the image, and looked at it for an hour. Mother Liao Lina pretended to be interested in buying a house and let him look at it slowly. Once, he filmed on his mobile phone on the viaduct for more than twenty minutes, and his mother Liao Lina did not know why, but still quietly waited for him. After the end, Zhou Dongrui showed the results, "Mom, you see, the clouds are moving.

With love and companionship, he completed his behavior training and completed his studies step by step. At the age of 17, he got his first camera and entered the Guangdong Vocational College of Foreign Language Arts after graduating from high school. In her freshman and sophomore year, Liao Lina fought for two internship opportunities for him, and she knew: "He learns everything more slowly than others, and no matter what he does, we do it in advance."

In his sophomore year, Zhou Dongrui began to intern at the Yangai Special Children's Parents Club, and he was also a member of this club when he was a child. He shoots video recordings for events, courses, and projects organized by the organization, and manages and operates its video platform. He is very mobile, often shooting videos in the morning and sending them out after editing in the afternoon. The presiding officer could see that "he has a strong desire to prove his ability." ”

But sometimes, he can appear overly positive, such as abruptly asking for an interview or interrupting someone else's conversation. But colleagues also observed, "After the small problem was said to him once, he basically didn't do it again." ”

The patience and tolerance of colleagues have made Zhou Dongrui's "imperfection" in his work become a ladder for his growth and progress.

Yang Ai has a colleague A Cat who has been engaged in volunteer service for more than 15 years, and Zhou Dongrui served as his special education teacher when he was a child. Now that Dong Rui is only one workstation away from her, she can't help but sigh: "It's hard for you to imagine that the little boy who didn't like to talk and dodged would become my colleague today." ”

Zhou Dongrui has his own video number and will send some personal videos of visiting the store, watching the house and living.

Someone gives him a thumbs up and he'll be happy.

Into

At the age of 30, she got her own job

To become a member of society, everyone cannot avoid employment.

According to statistics in 2020, the national autism group has exceeded 10 million, and the group of children aged 0-14 has reached more than 2 million. According to the Blue Book on the Needs of Chinese Autistic Families, the employment rate of adult autistic people in China is less than 10%.

Every family with a child with autism will think: how to integrate children into mainstream society, be accepted by the public, and gain employment opportunities and social dignity?

Li Ruolan intends to train Wei Yizhe to become a professional piano tuning lawyer. After two or three years, Yi Zhe was admitted to the piano tuning lawyer certificate. A hundred and dozens of pianos, through Yi Zhe's hand, all wiped away the thick ash and restored the pitch.

Every time he finished tuning the piano, Yi Zhe clapped his hands and jumped away. Li Ruolan knows that this means that he is very happy, "He likes the challenge. "Most of the clients are satisfied," one gavel after another slowly touched, more carefully than other tuning lawyers. ”

In the eyes of the teacher, Yizhe's technique is already "above passing". In the view of Ou Yongqiang, head of the Guangzhou Friends Mental Disorders Service Association, "The situation of each autistic child is very special and very different, and to plan a way out for them, we must first see them, and then divide them into levels and stages." Having been on the front lines of volunteer work for many years, he deeply understands: "For a child to be sustainable and integrated into society, a system is needed to promote it." ”

The China Resources Vanguard supermarket chain has become one of the few companies that have seen them, "young people need not only activities, but also employment." "After years of working with the Association for the Service of the Mentally Handicapped, they have gradually launched a job training program. In 2021, a total of ten young people with mental disabilities passed the six-month internship and signed a labor contract after regularization.

Ni Zhuojun is one of them, serving as a staff member of the eight-hour system in the automatic cash register area. After starting work, she will register on her mobile phone every day, go to work at what time, punch in at what time, drink water at what time, and carry out a fulfilling work under clear planning.

In the run-in, Zhuo Jun also proved his ability, "The obstacle comes from not understanding, but when you have more contact with these children and communicate more, you will find that their ability is OK." ”

Now in the checkout area, Ni Zhuojun smiled when he saw people, bringing warm service to customers. Mother May observed: "She is no longer stuck at home all day to paint, the whole person is much more cheerful." "She proved to everyone that she could do all these things.

Zhou Dongrui once carried a camera to shoot a record video on the day zhuo jun joined, and he was curious about what kind of job it was, and how much Zhuo Jun's salary was.

In the process of Dong Rui's growth, her mother Liao Lina could not avoid a question he asked: "Mom, what is autism?" ”

Through step-by-step infiltration and education, Zhou Dongrui has now formed an understanding: "Rigid, unsociable, good ability can be good in a short period of time (quickly learn skills), but some will always nest at home and become a double old family."

Someone asked Dong Rui, "Do you agree with this definition?" ”

"Half approved." "What are the disapproval aspects?"

"Autism can also create different abilities — superpowers — that can cultivate your hobbies, learn professional skills, and do what you love."

In July this year, Zhou Dongrui is about to graduate. Like all recent graduates, he aspires to have a formal job.