From being diagnosed with autism and being too shy to look at others as a child, to being about to start an electronics and computer engineering course at the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Chen Han-sheng (陳漢昇) has come a long way.
Chen is also expected to represent the nation at an electronics and computer engineering competition in France in March next year.
On Friday last week, Chen and his mother, Lee Kuei-fen (李桂芬), appeared at an event organized by the Syin-Lu Social Welfare Foundation to talk about their experiences and tell others dealing with autism that the future can be bright.
Chen was diagnosed with autism when he was two years old and lagged severely in language development.
Lee said she first noticed something was wrong when they found that Chen’s eyes were often vacant and he did not notice others.
While the discovery meant additional efforts were required to take care of Chen, she also discovered certain gifts, she said.
Since he was a child, Chen displayed a remarkable aptitude for electronics, such as remembering all the parts of a printer when he watched a repair person take one apart, Lee said
He also has a talent for repairs, being able to fix many things, including computers, Lee said.
His talent for electronics and anything with wiring really stood out during his studies at the Songshan High School of Agriculture and Industry, when he completed an experiment expected to take three hours in less than 30 minutes, Lee said.
However, Lee said that her son’s talent was not the result of genius, but was rather built through hard work.
Lee said that there were moments when she had broken down because raising Chen had been so difficult.
Due to his delayed development in language cognition, Chen has always had difficulty speaking, Lee said.
In one instance, when they were doing homework together, Lee said she was looking for the eraser and asked Chen where he put it, but he was unable to answer.
She said she broke down after seeing his English work.
Lee said that she had been worried that Chen was unable to keep up with his peers in his Mandarin studies and now he also had to take English classes.
“I just blew up and thought: ‘Why me?’” she said.
Chen was bullied by his classmates, which caused him to act out of character and repeatedly hit certain classmates, his mother said.
She saw Chen hit his classmates when he was at school, and not knowing what had happened, she punished him upon returning home, she said, adding that Chen had not been able to explain what happened.
Lee said that when she learned that her son’s erratic behavior had been due to bullying, which was made clear after one of his classmates wrote a note to him, she blamed herself for not having enough faith in her son.
Lee said that parents, especially of children like Chen, must stand up for them, as they are often the child’s only pillar of support.
With more than 20 children in a class, there is little time for the teacher to focus on individuals, Lee said.
Parents cannot cower in the face of difficulty, because difficulties will not go away, Lee said. People will continue to discriminate against and bully our children, as well as cause us anger or despair.
Chen eventually overcame his language impediment by diligently memorizing phrases, idioms and sayings, as well as writing a daily review of the TV series Life, Hand in Hand (牽手人生), Lee said.
The show is a documentary series on how Ma Wenzhong (馬文仲), a resident of China’s Henan Province who suffered from gradual muscular atrophy, overcame physical and social difficulties in his pursuit of knowledge and eventually opening the Hope School with his wife, Gu Qingyu (谷慶玉).
Chen added that he would major in electronics, saying he has already started looking into telecommunication and Bluetooth applications in the hope of improving people’s lives.
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