Please tell a little about yourself and your role with autism in China.

Our non profit NGO, www.chinaputi.com, has been setup by our founder, Ms Zhang Xiwen, for 2 years in Shenzhen and basically doing all ground foundation works. With our work getting good responses from the public, our Chinese government recently decided to assign us as an action arm to Red Cross Society of China to have a greater impact not just in Shenzhen, but in whole of China.

Our mission is providing information, resources and support to families affected by Autism Spectrum Disorder(ASD). We have 5 programs and 3 sponsorships to assist parents.

Program 1 is Early Screening and Detection= baby’s development milestones, red flags of autism, online M-CHAT, referrals to doctors getting early diagnosis.
Program 2 is Directory of special schools= Name of school, founder, principal in charge, address, contact number, description of their therapy & therapy fees.
Program 3 is Directory of therapists= Name of therapist, experience, training, contact number, description of therapy conducted & therapy fees.
Program 4 is Autism resources= Library where parents can borrow books to read first before buying, books description, costs & where and how to buy the book.
Program 5 is Grants and aid directory guide= provides a list of organizations providing grants, who is entitled, where and how to apply.

Sponsorship 1= Assist parents with their children’s therapy fees.
Sponsorship 2= Assist parents with their children’s lab fees.
Sponsorship 3= Setup a small conference and provides autism professionals to talk in schools

What is the prevalence of autism in China (if known)?

No agency that we know is in charge of this matter. We are trying to consolidate the number of children affected with autism in Guangdong Province.

Within the general culture of China, how aware are people of autism? How accepting are they of autism?

With United Nation’s Autism Awareness Day, there is an increase of autism awareness but our society is still not clear about the facts of autism. In our website, we have several videos links demonstrating the devastating effects of autism on the child, family and society. Till now, it is still a society stigma and not widely accepted.

What are the largest struggles for people with autism in China? Is there a story you know personally that demonstrates this struggle?

Conflicts among autistic training schools, not enough autism knowledge, incorrect autism training and early intervention.

Presently, there are a number of schools for autistic children, but there has been always a problem that cannot be resolved. All these schools do not share resources and do not trust other. Better financed schools invite foreign autism therapists to teach their staff but will not allow training of competing schools due to competitive enrolment of new students. The reason is increase enrolment of students will increase their profits.

These actions are applied to our autism non profit organizations where their existence depended on these poor families paying the school fees, thus resulting our ever degrading national environment. Eventually, these autistic children and their families suffered.

Our organization existed to combat this environment; we do not depend on children’s school fees.

What have been some of the greatest successes in China in regards to autism?

The greatest success in China is that our Government is taking necessary measures to recruit non profit and government organizations similar like us to take action.

Is there anything else about autism and China you would like to share?

We would like to share our dream to start a team of autism professionals and provide proper and free training to any schools who are interested to participate in this program in China. Free up these monopoly.