Hong Kong Mother of Autistic Child Shares Struggle with Financial Hardship and Mental Health

Wrestling with mounting financial difficulties and the challenges of caring for a child with autism, Hong Kong mother Chau Ting-ting found herself struggling several years ago with thoughts of ending her life. The 30-year-old recalled on Thursday that her son Ziyi, now five, began displaying symptoms consistent with autism when he was two years old. Counsellors advised her to send the boy to a nursery to increase his contact with other children his age. “But when I went to the nursery, I saw Ziyi staying in a corner alone, as he was not well accepted by other children. No one came to talk to him for half an hour,” she said. Chau withdrew her son from the nursery and instead took him to therapy. The family soon faced financial difficulties, as a one-hour therapy session cost HK$1,600 (US$204). At the same time, Chau found herself fighting postnatal depression. But a doctor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) referred her to a mental health support programme backed by the Wemp Foundation, a charity founded by former New World Development CEO Adrian Cheng Chi-kong.