关于孤独症的英语演讲

The Children Of the Stars: The Autistic And Us

He is a talent. At seven, he can solve math problems that we university students are confused about. He has a spectacular memory, an amazing gift for music, and a special interest to sequence and machines. He seldom lies and is really strong-minded.

Now you may think the god has given him the best gift. However, the cost is, he was born to be lonely, disabled to fit into the normal society. In fact, there is one “him” or “her” in 110 children. They stay with their parents, but their souls seem to wander on another planet. They are called the autistics, or, the children of the stars.

Autism is a rather new-discovered disease which is not so familiar to us. The symptoms of the autistics differ from each other, but they have something in common. The main characteristics of autism are social communication disorder and restricted and repetitive behavior. Autistics pay little attention to social relationship, so it is really hard for them to understand the logic of the normal people and the social rules.

According to the book Taking The Mystery Out Of Autism, we can classify autism into 3 types: Asperger Syndrome, Rett Syndrome and atypical Autism. People with Asperger syndrome have a higher intelligence and linguistic ability. They are most likely to acquire special talents I mentioned in the beginning. However, they are still clumsy when dealing with social activities, being regarded as "rude" "weird" or "arrogant". For those with Rett syndrome, life will be much harder. They typically have no verbal skills, half of them not able to walk. And Atypical autism refers to autism with other various symptoms.

What causes autism? Researches prove that autism comes from brain biology problem. Most of these diseases are believed to be congenital, which means the baby gains that disease before it is born. Researches also discover that boys are four times more likely to be autistic than girls, and less likely to get better.

But things are not that pessimistic. According to Dr. V olkmar, the director of the Yale Child Study Center, there is no cure for autism, but people have found various ways to provide the autistics with a better life. For those with serious autism, special rehabilitation centers can offer lifetime care. For those whose symptoms are mild, it is possible for them to develop into society after some specific training.

However, in regard of how to treat the adult autistics, people hold two different attitudes. Some think we normal people should show sympathy to them, and shoulder the burden of meeting their basic needs. However, the latest ideas toward the autistics are to respect their living style and uncover their abilities, instead of feeling pity for them. Gareth Nelson, the leader of the UK's autism rights movement, stated that autistic people have their own value, their own shining point, which cannot be judged by normal criteria.

Maybe we can put forward more theories on autism, but what I want to state is, they, the autistic, are part of us. Two weeks ago, on April 2nd , the fifth World Autism Awareness Day, a few paintings of autistic children were exhibited in Beijing. They are beautiful, they need our attention and respect.So, let’s convey our love to them, to the “children of the stars”.