The organization Autism China says that "autism and China are seldom heard together." Children with Autism in China are often called children of the stars. Some claim that the term is pejorative but it is not. It is a poetic, affectionate term referring to these autistic children. Children of the Stars is also the name of a 2007 50 minute long documentary about autistic children in the People's Republic of China at the Stars and Rain School, a school for autistic children. The documentary seems to not be available on DVD or streaming but the trailer can be found here.
The documentary follows 5 year old Feng Jia Wei and his parents who traveled across China to enroll their son in the school that is also the first NGO dedicated school to autistic children. A long synopsis of the documentary can be found here. Even more recently, new advances have been made in neuroscience using accupuncture in treating autistic children with co-occuring conditions.
Nevertheless, The children of the stars is fraught with issues. The mother of Zi Han tells her story. The mother who chose to remain anonymous thought her world collasped. The mother stated that children are often disallowed from participating in regular school with other children.
In conclusion, let us embrace the children of the stars and adult autistics in China as we embrace the rest of the world's autistic children and adults.
Thanks for reading my post. Please leave a comment, whether you agree or disagree to drum up some discussion. Thank you!
