To be seen and heard

One NGO is involving people of all ages to help bust myths and share the real lives of autistic people and their families, Chen Xue reports.

The first modern Olympic Games was held in Athens, Greece, in 1896.The first Paralympic Games took place in Rome, Italy, in 1960.What about the first Special Olympics?

"When our volunteers took to the streets to ask people about the Special Olympics, hardly anyone had heard of it," said Zheng Xingkui, 43, founder of Green House, an NGO based in Shanghai. "And among the few who did know about it, they couldn't really say the difference between the Special Olympics and Paralympics. That was frustrating."

As an organization dedicated to providing support to autistic people and their families, Green House is one of the East Asia partners of the 2023 Special Olympics World Summer Games, which is currently taking place in Berlin, Germany, from June 17 to 25.

A group of 89 Chinese athletes with an average age of 21 — the youngest being 14 — are now in Berlin, competing in 11 disciplines, including badminton, basketball, gymnastics and swimming. This is the 10th time that China has taken part in the Special Olympics — an international sporting event for athletes with intellectual disabilities that was first held in Chicago, US, in 1968.

In 2007, Shanghai hosted the Special Olympics, making China the first Asian country to host the event. And yet still, few people in China even know about its existence.

This is why, ever since Green House became a partner organization of this year's Special Olympics, its volunteers started working hard to help promote the event, with the aforementioned street interview just one component of their campaign. Other activities also include a virtual torch-lighting relay, and training sessions with previous Chinese Special Olympics medalists.

In fact, Green House's volunteers have long been organizing different activities on a daily basis to raise public awareness of the lives of autistic people and their families.

Ni Aishan, 19, a student at Shanghai International Studies University and Green House volunteer, once supervised the production of a graduation song project in her high school and proposed to create a song for autistic children and post it online so that more people could learn about the children's stories and the challenges they face.

"We're a social-media-savvy generation. We're sensitive to what's trending and familiar with how the internet works, which means we are best at spreading information online and helping public welfare projects reach more people," said Ni.

Lu Yajie, 22, an industrial design major at Tongji University in Shanghai, is working on a class project to design a futuristic device that helps shield autistic children from excessive stimuli from the outside world. After she joined Green House earlier this year, she proposed the idea of organizing a jogging event for autistic kids and their parents so that they could get out of the house and get closer to nature and society.

"Doing my class project, I realized how little people know about autism. Many of my peers and even my professors believe that autism is a mental illness, but in fact, it's a developmental disability," said Lu. "When it comes to raising people's awareness, no efforts are too small."

Xia Xiuyuan is about to start college this fall. Last month, the 18-year-old was part of the volunteer group doing the street interview for the Special Olympics. Instead of being discouraged by the fact that most of the passersby didn't know about it, Xia would actively introduce the event to them and share general knowledge about autism.

"The media tends to portray autistic people as a group of geniuses, which is one-sided and misleading," said Xia, making her determined to share with people the other side of the story.

Zhang Bopei, 13, a student at Shanghai Xiangming Junior High School, took part in a volunteer activity with Green House playing flag football with autistic kids. His job was to explain the rules and help the children play the game. And although he was roughly the same age as most of the autistic kids taking part, it wasn't an issue for Zhang.

"I don't think only grown-ups can participate in public welfare projects. Students of all ages — from college right down to primary school — should all get involved," he said. "Only this way can we include and influence more people."

We keep saying that people should have more understanding and tolerance of autistic people, said Green House's founder Zheng, "but that's probably too far a goal for now. People need to see them first."

Contact the writer at chenxue@i21st.cn