December 7, 2006

Autism in China

China has more than 100,000 autistic children: expert
People's Daily (China)
December 07, 2006

China has at least 100,000 autistic children but there is a lack of
adequate professional treatment available, an expert said Thursday.

"According to the statistics from the second China National Sample
Survey on Disability, there are 100,000 autistic children in China.
But the real number is much bigger than that," said an official
surnamed Li with the Beijing Rehabilitation Association for Autistic
Children (BRAAC).

"Beijing alone has about 80,000 autistic children," Li said.

A report by China Central Television (CCTV) said China has at least
1.8 million people, including 400,000 children, suffering from
autism.

Autism is a mental disorder that makes it very difficult for people
to communicate properly, or to form relationship with others. It
accounts for a hefty proportion of mental disability among children,
but its cause is a mystery. Some scientists believe it is genetic,
while others say it could be environmental.

Doctors say children with autism should receive treatment between
the ages of two and 12. With proper treatment at the right time, 20
to 30 percent of sufferers will learn to be independent adults.

However, there are only a few institutions in the country with
adequate funding to give special treatment to autistic children,
and "a lot of autistic children miss prime opportunities for
treatment because of inadequate institutions and funds", according
to Jia Meixiang, deputy chairman of BRAAC.

"The burden falls almost completely on the shoulders of the
patients, and some parents have to fund rehabilitation centers
themselves," said Jia, quoting Wang Guoqiang, father of a autistic
child, who has donated 100,000 yuan each year since 2005 to BRAAC to
sponsor poor families with autistic children.

Autism patients are not covered by Chinese law on the Protection of
the Handicapped.

Earlier reports suggest that China is making efforts to improve the
situation of autistic patients. Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan called on
the public to care more for children suffering from autism at a
charity function to raise funds for the disabled on Dec. 1.

The China Welfare Fund for the Handicapped also pledged to set up a
special fund to support research into autism and establish
rehabilitation organizations for children.

13 comments:

Maddy said...

Now! My baby bruv is in China [Beijing] and he is a journalist! One advantage they [The Chinese people] have, is that they usually have very close knit families [I know it's a double edged / generalisation]
But thanks for the update.
Cheers

Anonymous said...

This part is interesting:

"1.8 million people, including 400,000 children"

That means 1.4 million adults in China are autistic. That is, autistics born in China before 1988. Thimerosal was apparently introduced in China in 1999 and RFK Jr. made the proposterous unsourced claim that there were no Chinese autistics prior to that year.

Anonymous said...

Between the 15th and the 23rd of february 2007 the entire earth will literally be in a field that behaves as though switched on (either by the result of gravitational forces of orbiting bodies close to earth such as the SUN or other planetary bodies ).The word field implies a region of unusual activity . by switched on i mean say on the 16th ,there is nothing then on the 17th ,18th the field is on . it would last about 15 days average ie to say the 5th 6th 7th of march .

Anonymous said...

my theory is that those born within this period will share autistic attributes ,the best phrase to use is 'speech deficient '.i believe this event happens every year around february and probably also around september

Anonymous said...

it is possibly the fragile ,stil developing eyes of the infant that is defaulted affecting the eyes ability to accomodate properly .without any vaccine people born in this period share speech defficiency as the grow ,on the long run it will reflect Autism .

Anonymous said...

How many people are born within this period every year in America ? but like i said it is the whole earth so it affects every country and continent .february 12th 2006 i began to look for any difference in weather or solar radiation .on the 21th of february i observed what i call the switch field .there are other ways to autism but there is certainty about the february /march autism ,it's not a myth. just 2 months away we can carry out a simple research experiment on the next set of individuals expected in february in every country as possible .

Anonymous said...

80 thousand children in one city.

that's staggering.


Spread Love...
... but wear the Glove!


BlueBerry Pick'n
can be found @
ThisCanadian
"Silent Freedom is Freedom Silenced"

Anonymous said...

80 thousand children in one city.

that's staggering.


Spread Love...
... but wear the Glove!


BlueBerry Pick'n
can be found @
ThisCanadian
"Silent Freedom is Freedom Silenced"

Anonymous said...

I suffer from Aspergers Spectrum disorder and now people suffering with autism is 1 in every thousand looking at the population and for example and easy math purposes i will say 300 million (remembers it was 250 million some time ago)Thats close to 300,000 people who have it but those are people who are diagnosed. Its not hard to believe that it could be as high as 1.8 million people. I was diagnosed long after i a could've recieved funding for my disorder and now i learned through some bad teachers and some really hard work. Anybody can learn even those who suffer it and its a weakness that happens but it a happy weakness that i share with others.

wsh1266 said...

hi Ginger-

My name is Whitney Hoffman, and I run the LD Podcast. I have started a ChipIn campaign to try to raise money for Ma Chen, a mother of an autistic daughter in China, who has started a school for autistic children. Her story was highlighted in the Wall Street Journal recently, and she is looking for funds to try to buy a farm, so the children will have a place to go and something to do to support themselves after they finish school. With no real social safety net in China, without this sort of program, the future of these children is uncertain at best.

I think all of us moms can make a difference. I would love to enlist your support, and if you feel comfortable, to reach out to your community as well. With small donations, many of which have been in the $5 to $20 range so far, we've already raised over $500 to date, in the past week.

For the $10,000 US this farm will cost, whatever money we can raise in the next 60 days will go a long way to making a long term impact on the lives of autistic children in China.

the link to the chipin page can be found here:

http://ldpodcast.chipin.com/ma-chen-autism-school-in-china

Thank you so much for what you are doing, the support others find through your blog, and for considering this request.

Whitney Hoffman
The LD Podcast
www.ldpodcast.com
ldpodcast (at) gmail.com

Cordelia said...

So interesting to read your post about autism in China. I am a recent college grad volunteering in Beijing at an autism center for a few months. Please check out my blog, http://autismabroad.blogspot.com, I've been writing about my experiences and daily encounters with autism in China!

Anonymous said...

I think that a marine park in northeast China has purchased four dolphins to be used to treat children with autism. The idea is that the symptoms associated with autism, impaired social interaction and communication as well as repetitive behavior, may be lessened following interaction with dolphins.


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China AS said...

My partner and I operate a small school for children with Autism Syndrome Conditions and other educational difficulties within China. We are are both expatriates with expertise in this field of work.

Funding is our issue; we have to charge large amounts to parents in order to offer our provision. We therefore can reach very few of the many thousands of local children who might benefit from our interventions.

We have pursued charitable support for our work but with little success thus far. Should anyone know of individuals or organisations who would be willing to discuss ways to help us develop our services, please encourage them to post here.

With thanks

Ian