Listen to #Hashtag Hong Kong every Sunday morning at 8.15
Focussing on issues affecting civil society, we'll hear from representatives of NGOs, associations, statutory bodies, and non-profit groups.
(Sundays 8.15am - 8.25am)
April 2nd is World Autism Day, a day to raise awareness and promote acceptance and inclusion for individuals on the autism spectrum. According to recent studies, autism affects approximately 1 in 36 children globally, and Hong Kong is no exception—there has been a steady increase in autism diagnoses over the past decade. Meanwhile, Down syndrome is one of the most common genetic disorders, occurring in around 1 out of 700 births worldwide.
One of the biggest challenges faced by the individuals with autism and Down syndrome in Hong Kong is the lack of accessible support services. The shortage of trained staff equipped with the SEN knowledge and skills and the lack of suitable facilities make it challenging for the community to engage effectively in physical activities that promote their health and development.
Factors such as low motivation levels and social anxiety can act as significant barriers, exacerbating their conditions and potentially isolating themselves socially.
What’s more, caregivers and parents, too, experience high levels of stress, as the demands of caregiving are immense and often go unrecognized.
At Love 21 Foundation, we saw how much the Neurodiverse community in Hong Kong were held back by stigma and lack of opportunity. Our goal is to empower our community members with opportunities to reach their full potential through sports, nutrition, and holistic support programmes. Our strengths-based approach, together with our personalized and tailored programmes, motivate each of our members and their families to take ownership of their health.
Currently serving over 500 families, we provide support based on the six pillars of our holistic model:
1. Sport and Fitness - We provide over 500 sports and fitness activities to members and their parents every month. Led by experienced coaches and instructors, our diverse activities ranges from dancing, bocce, boxing, circuit training, dragon boat racing to yoga. We even have competitive teams programme for members who are dedicated to improving their skills and potentially represent Love 21 in internal and external competitions.
2. Nutrition and Dietetics – Members in the neurodiverse community have genetic predispositions that put them at a higher risk of disease such as obesity and diabetes. Combining with our fitness programme, we provide continued support to members through regular dietitian consultations along with fitness classes, as well as nutrition classes, cooking demonstrations and seminars.
3. Enrichment and Intervention – Other than sport and fitness activities, we also offer therapeutic classes such as art and music therapy sessions for our members. These classes are held with smaller teacher-student ratios where members can enjoy a more quiet and therapeutic space or for those who require closer care and attention.
4. Family Support - Our parent beneficiaries play a huge role in our classes and out. We do all we can to support the parents and their children such as offering counselling sessions, parent-only and family specialty classes, peer support groups, as well as employment opportunities for our members.
5. Community – We help our members and families to integrate into society by providing volunteering and stewardship opportunities. We also bring our members to various community events and social gatherings which help members connect to the community and better integrate.
6. Education and Advocacy - We are expanding our outreach programme where we collaborate with schools, corporates, and other organizations to raise awareness and advocate for inclusivity. Our CSR programme is extremely important, reason being that our beneficiaries are rarely seen and often misunderstood. Volunteering with us enables the wider community to learn about the challenges as well as building a relationship with the neurodiverse community through participating at our regular activities and interactions.
I’d like to extend a heartfelt appreciation to our supporters who have accompanied us on this shared path for the past seven years.
We will soon be opening our third centre where we aim to expand our reach and offer a wider range of support programs especially for family services. I’d like to encourage everyone to get involved—whether it’s volunteering, raising awareness, or simply being more inclusive in your daily life. Together, we can create a society where everyone feels valued and empowered to shine.
And the song I'd like to dedicate to our community members and caregivers is "Not so different" by Cassandra Kubinski.
How has life treated you? Each of you may have a different answer at different stages of life.
When I was small, I wished to stand tall.
I asked my teacher, “What will I be?”
Here’s what my teacher said to me,
“Any dream will do.”
I’m sure many of you have been encouraged to do the same: pursuing your own dreams. But I doubt whether many adolescents have dreams of their own in this day and age. For those who do, I am wondering whether the dreams contribute to genuine happiness. The World Happiness Report 2024 sounds alarm on the mental well-being of the youth. Our youth’s happiness has hit a new low.
Many teenagers are living with the mundanity of daily routines, and worryingly, lack long-term plans of their own. With a lack of personal life goals, these youngsters go with the flow, and tend to follow a fragmented path, which is not sustainable in the long-term. When facing headwinds, they can become disoriented and experience mental breakdown easily. Their setbacks in life include unsatisfactory academic results, huge pressure from parents and the deprivation of social life. To our dismay, despair often leads to tragic stories.
Career and life planning is particularly important for our youth. Gone are the days when we were burdened with making important life decisions, such as choosing university courses or applying for a job, in the nick of time. Life is a journey and it should be perceived this way.
Now I have students of my own,
they ask me, “What will I be?”
I say to them, “Whatever will be will be.”
Of course, I am not encouraging them to engage in inaction. What I am telling them is that they should plan ahead without excessive planning.
There is a world of opportunities awaiting them. I usually tell them this: go all out and explore. Yet nothing should be set in stone to start with. Nor should they overwhelm themselves with as many experiences as possible. Remember, it is not the more, the merrier. They should embrace new opportunities while committing themselves to a few experiences at a time. Gradually, they will form their own goals, work towards the goals, review them from time to time, form new life priorities and build career resilience. It’s okay to face hardships. Don’t be failed by the future but let future find us. Life planning is a perennial and dynamic process.
To be future ready, we are often told that we should adapt to the emerging AI world. I am not worried about Gen Alpha’s preparedness for the AI world because they are generally tech-savvy. What I am worried about is their exposure to the real world experience. When some youngsters have spent too much time in the virtual world, they only know how to write fragmented sentences as social media messages instead of composing proper emails; or they only know how to customise their online experience without feeling the need to collaborate with others. Worse still, some of them only know how to input commands in order to generate music and artworks while losing human creativity. I hope none of these will become the norm or else our future will be bleak.
Our future will be bleak because the youth is our future. If they thrive, we thrive. That’s why I encourage NGOs, schools and businesses to work together to organise experiential activities for our youth so as to connect their learning experiences with the real world. Nothing is more valuable than providing them with mentorship and internship. Giving them a flavour of the workplace allows them to appreciate the beauty of teamwork and gain practical experiences making them more humanistic. In fact, many of our students are grateful for the enlightening and life-transforming experiences of learning from mentors experienced in the field. Their experiences are conducive to their career planning.
At the end of the day, we are reduced to a name, or slightly better, a character. I hope when we reach that note, we can proudly say:
“I lived a life that's full
And traveled each and every highway
And more, much more than this
I did it my way”
These few lines are taken from the song “My Way” by Paul Anka. “My way” does not denote a solitary journey. Rather, it means that we, especially our youth, should navigate the world ourselves, have forward planning and chart a course that suits us best. If we can, Hong Kong will prosper.