"String your heart and my heart, string a lucky grass, string a concentric circle..." On the eve of the Mid-Autumn Festival, at the Mid-Autumn Festival family banquet in the Shunde Country Garden community, led by Luo Pingping, an art teacher at the 90 studio of Hui Ling's Service Agency for the Mentally Handicapped (hereinafter referred to as "Hui Ling"), a special group of young people followed her to make neat dance moves on the stage.
These young people are all mentally handicapped people from Guangzhou Huiling, some of them suffer from Down syndrome, some have autism, they have different life experiences, they study and grow together here, and they will also participate in stage performances and other activities under the guidance of teachers.
Even more attractive than the dance on stage are the infectious smiles on their faces, and the children on the stage follow them, twisting and swinging their hands to the dynamic music. At the end of the performance, the residents of the community applauded the young people.
Luo Pingping was very satisfied with the performance of her students, "They have been practicing this dance for almost two months, and most of the movements in the dance are choreographed by themselves. Luo Pingping said that for the trainees, they should not be taught completely in accordance with the correct and beautiful movements that the average person thinks, but should be choreographed according to their own ability and physical coordination, and at the same time add a little difficult movement to the rehearsal, so that they can adapt and change on their own, so as to make progress.
One of the Huiling trainees, Wang Siming, who likes to express himself, said in an interview with reporters that he did handicrafts in the sheltered workshop where Huiling provided sheltered employment, earned monthly labor fees through his labor force, usually liked to participate in activities, learned to play the piano from an early age, and the piano was his very proud specialty. Art is one of his bridges to the outside world, he uses music to communicate and interact with others, and he can also express himself through music.
Meng Weina, the founder of China Huiling, told reporters that with the growth of these mentally handicapped children and the gradual aging of their parents, children also need to go out of the family, integrate into society, and no longer live with their parents. They live together in various communities in Guangzhou in the form of payment, living a family model, which is called "foster families".
"In the beginning, when people with mental disabilities enter foster homes and enter ordinary communities, people around them will also have feelings of fear and resistance. With the inclusion of society and more awareness of mental diseases, people gradually accepted them. Meng Weina said.
Founded by Hui Ling in 1990, Meng Weina has witnessed changes in the social environment in the past three decades, and she believes that people with mental disabilities or other types of disabled people are part of human society and have become a trend.
[Reporter] Wang Yueying
【Video shooting| Clip】 Wang Yueying
【Intern】Liu Wenjie Li Kaili
【Author】 Wang Yueying
【Source】 Southern Press Media Group South + Client Nanfang Number ~ Self-operated Number ~ Daily Mobile Self-Operating Number ~ Side