Autistic Children: Pictures of Dignity
Text by Ru Yuan Photographs by Cheng Xu
On April 2, 2016, China embraced the Ninth World Autism Awareness Day, a movement encouraging global awareness about children afflicted with autism. In 1985, China identified and recognized its first group of autism sufferers. Previously, autism was usually grouped with other mental disorders. After the return of the first group of Chinese medical professionals who had studied abroad after the country’s launch of reform and opening up in 1978, the Chinese mainland began to formulate its own diagnostic criteria for autism.
Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impaired social interaction, verbal and non-verbal communication, and restricted and repetitive behavior. Some people describe autistic children as children of the stars because they shine alone in a dark and distant night sky.
Autistic children tend to show indifference to things and people around them and have difficulty focusing on tasks.
Autistic twins Baobao and Beibei with their father. The brothers never communicate with each other or hold hands.
Although no single repetitive behavior is specific to autism, autistic individuals display many forms of repetitive behavior, such as tearing newspaper like the boy in the picture.
An autistic kid practices writing Chinese characters with the help of parent. Great efforts are required to improve autistic kids’ motor skills.
Since medical community first defined autism in 1943, the world has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to uncover its causes and pathogenesis, and few answers have emerged over 70 years later. Today, autism is universally acknowledged as one of the most severe threats to children’s health. In China, diagnosis and treatment of autism is still relatively immature. According to incomplete statistics, by the end of 2013, there were only 933 accredited educational institutions for children with autism on the Chinese mainland, and the situation calls for greater resource allocation from governments.
According to the Report on Chinese Children with Autism, China’s first specialized report on the disorder, released in late 2014, autism cases have multiplied exponentially in China since the late 20th Century. The latest estimates tally autism diagnoses in China at more than 10 million, of which 2 million were children under 14 years old. And the condition occurs four to five times more often in boys than girls.
In 2010, when the term “autism” was still unfamiliar to most Chinese people, photographer Cheng Xu began following autistic children and their families. Cheng recalls feeling greatly moved after hearing a story from an autistic girl’s mother. The mother told Cheng about her experience taking her daughter on a bus. The seven-year-old ran up and down the bus from the moment she boarded. Passengers tried to stop her, but their efforts were in vain. They turned to the mother and chided her for failing to teach her child proper behavior. Tears streamed down the mother’s face. Despite monumental efforts by parents to teach autistic children, they cannot understand social rules nor obey them. “I just hope I can outlive her just by a day or even a minute,” said the mother. “Then I can take care of my daughter for her entire life.” Cheng was greatly touched. “Her hopes are so simple that they bring others to tears,” opines Cheng. Because of these helpless and heartbroken parents, Cheng decided to focus his photography on autistic kids. In fact, in terms of disabilities in China, mechanisms for autism sufferers still need major improvements. Imbalanced economic, cultural and educational development in various regions of China also contributes to contrasting understandings and services available for the autistic. In smaller Chinese cities, some doctors have yet to hear of autism, never mind having the training needed to diagnose and treat it. Cheng hopes his images will help autistic kids and their families be better understood and receive more compassion.
Qing Qing paints her home all red. She is quite focused on painting and is already considered an “artist” by people around her. An estimated 0.5 to 10 percent of individuals with autism spectrum disorders show unusual abilities, ranging from splinter skills such as the memorization of trivia to the extraordinarily rare talents of prodigious autistic savants.
A teacher trains her autistic student (left) to pronounce “mom” and “dad.” Many autistic kids cannot pronounce these two words until three years old and it takes two to three months of training for them to do the work.
Shooting didn’t start smoothly. Many parents were reluctant to parade their children in front of a camera. Many times after agreeing to participate, parents later rescinded their permission. The cancellations could be attributed to several factors. One parent cited a relative’s approaching wedding. “We fear that if the groom and his family hear the news, they will break off the engagement,” she declared. “Today, it looks like autism is inherited, and you don’t want people linking it to the whole family.” Another parent told Cheng that if his child’s pictures were publicized, the family would “never be able to lift their heads.” He pointed out, “In my neighborhood, the rumor mill has decided that our child’s behavior was caused by us spoiling him. If we go public about his condition, everyone will know he is different.” Although the causes of autism have not yet been pinpointed, bad parenting has certainly been ruled out. And no links have been found between occurrences of autism and parents’ educational background or income.
Since 2010, Cheng has shot more than 100 autistic kids in about 20 families, capturing more than 10,000 images. While shooting, Cheng took inspiration from many Western works. “I need to show my audience the behavioral traits of these kids,” he declares. “But my top priority is protecting the privacy of them and their families.” Cheng established a welfare project aiming to collect images related to autism: of autistic kids, autistic families, and teachers of autistic people. “If photography can help just a few autistic kids and their parents lead more dignified lives, our years of efforts have been worth it,” he adds.