Author: Abigail Zenko (Editor-in-Chief, HELLO Trust Hong Kong-Shenzhen)
Date Published: 16th March, 2024
Overview
Organizers: Artemis Cheung, Casso Pi
Participants: Jack Peng, Alicia Chen, Dorothy Lai, Koby Liu, Zhenni Pordan, Evanie Zhang, Tina Wu, Emily Ho, Crystal Chan, Abigail Zenko, Jonathan Gong, Jannis Na
Band supported: 微光亲子乐队
HELLO Trust HK-SZ: 心青年社交会活动 1
Photography by Leo Xu
Do you see that girl speaking into the microphone? That’s Artemis, the leader of HELLO Trust’s branch in Hong Kong. On 25th February 2024, she hosted an event in Shenzhen that catered to special-needs autistic men.
Together with HELLO Trust volunteers, they had fun with relay races, games, and music performances. Before diving into the day’s events, let’s explore its origins and educate ourselves about the autism spectrum disorder.
Artemis’s passion for people handling autism stemmed from a personal cause:
Having grown up with an autistic cousin, Artemis have dealt with autism since an early age. At first, she had found him strange and hard to communicate with. It’s only after she asked her mother about her cousin’s situation that she learnt about the autism spectrum disorder and the hardships her aunt encountered while raising a son born of it.
More people need to be made aware of autistic needs and the way it varies from person to person - including you! So, come check out our article on autism here.
Artemis’s cousin had grown up with the negative stigmas surrounding the disorder, which had others perceive him as odd. They did not understand him, and he grew up without friends. Not to mention the uncertainty about his future despite turning 18 years old, his hardships in studying caused challenges for the family. More than that, hardships rose from the lack of acceptance and opportunities to help him fit into society, much less thrive in it.
When Artemis joined HELLO Trust, her mom reminded her about this societal need for autism awareness and encouraged her to start activities with a band that her aunt created. The band, called 微光亲子乐队, consisted of autistic men ranging from their late teens to early 20’s. Each one of them played the Hulusi (葫芦丝), a traditional Chinese wind instrument.
Inspired, Artemis went to talk with her aunt, who advised her to focus on older autistic people who lacked much-needed support, opportunities, and care. Her aunt revealed that societies such as HELLO Trust that cater to autistic people usually focuses on adolescents or younger kids instead of those who have physically grown into adults. Her central point was that autistic adults needed greater endorsement from society. This revelation further fueled Artemis’s desire to start events that provided opportunities for the autistic men in the band and spread the message of awareness for similar groups of people.
Already, Artemis is familiar with the band, contacting them regularly since her cousin is also a part of it. Collaborating with her aunt, she began to organize a series of events, which involved interactions between HELLO Trust volunteers and the band members. She aimed to cultivate a sense of community and belonging that benefitted the band members.
So, at 10 to 12 AM on the Sunday morning of February 25, 12 volunteers and 7 band members met up at Shenzhen's Lychee Park (荔枝公园). Each autistic adult came with a parent who helped Artemis manage the activity. Among them were her aunt and cousin.
That day, everyone came color-coded. The volunteers came in black and the band members in white hoodies.
After a wholesome introduction, everyone split up into three pre-defined groups, labeled by color (orange, yellow, and blue). Each autistic adult had a volunteer or two assigned to them. The goal was to make meaningful and sincere connections!
Once everyone wore their color, the day began.
To familiarize the volunteers with the adults, they had an interactive icebreaker game for fifteen minutes before dividing themselves into their color-coded groups to compete against each other in a game of charades. The parents provided a list of words. The fastest group wins—and that group turned out to be the yellow team. Hurray! (Blue team, I know we'll get it next time. I just know it.)
After that, everyone gathered in groups to chat and snack on the picnic mat.
Then a three-legged relay ensued, where each autistic member tied a foot together with one of their parent’s and raced against others. Each group brought a baton to pass around until each team member had gone. Again, the fastest group wins—and though each team did splendidly, the orange team won. (Next time, blue team. Next time.)
The losers of each activity had to perform an impromptu music number as a fun punishment while the other teams watched:
These warmed everyone up for the spotlight performances: the band’s Hulusi performance and the volunteers’ campfire shows. (Video placed beneath article).
Left to Right: Hulusi performance, Jack with guitar and Tina singing, Candid group photo, Emily on electric bass guitar
The event wrapped up beautifully, with a last picture together and personalized journals from HELLO Trust for the band members:
This lovely event truly inspired volunteers and gave the band members an enjoyable experience.
Artemis plans to host similar events on March 10 and April this year, along with other prospective plans. (Keep an eye out for those!) We hope that by reading this article, you could also further grasp the needs of such people and find in your hearts a compassion for them.
In the future, Artemis wishes to present an art exhibition featuring various artwork that the autistic adults made. She wants to showcase their desires, passion, dreams, and worldviews, as well as what they envision to change in the world. Though HELLO Trust have yet to provide the numbers of volunteers enough to make a substantial impact on the larger society, Artemis still strives to spread the message of autism awareness. She advocates for the autistic adults in order for others to realize the existence of such people who requires more understanding, love, and aid.
To wrap all of this up, here are some last words from Artemis herself:
“[…] I guess I’m trying to pass the message to the society. […] I want more people to know about them. And [...] [really know, just realize that, […] there exists this group of people that needs more compassion and consideration]* […]."
*before translation: "真的知道，只要realize 到，
[…] 有一群这样的是更需要关注的一群人"
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