A parade will take place near Taipei City Hall today to demand more support for families with disabled children, with the organizers' Web site saying many such parents find themselves unable to cope and have even considered suicide.
“There is a physically or mentally disabled child in about one in 20 families in Taiwan, according to statistics,” a video on the Angel Heart Family Social Welfare Foundation Web Site said.
“Fifty percent of the parents of these families have a tendency toward depression,” the video said. “Eighty percent of these parents have thought about taking their own lives.”
Foundation spokesman Lo Shih-yi (羅時宜) said there were many organizations in the nation for children who suffer from autism, hyperactivity or other conditions, but the Angel Heart foundation works to help their parents.
“These parents do not worry about their children at home, but when they go out, they do worry about how others see them,” he said.
Some people express anger toward parents with disabled children when the children — or “angels,” as the foundation calls them — behave inappropriately on public transport, Lo said.
Under these circumstances, most parents choose not to respond or try to force their children to be quiet, he added.
“Actually, these parents want to explain, but it is very difficult for them to openly say that their children are sick,” Lo said.
Current studies show that it is often a matter of chance whether children are born with one of these conditions, he said, adding that it has nothing to do with genes or hereditary illnesses passed on by parents.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators
RSS