A Loving “Mother” to More than 3,000 Autistic Children

By Liu Junhua & Zhang Qiaohui

When it was finally confirmed that her 6-year-old son was autistic,Ran Cunying was determined to find any possible treatment for her son.

Later,she met many families facing the same challenges and made the decision to fight against the illness along with them.

From despair to repair,she quit her job and started a special school

In December 1999,Ran noticed that her son,Tan Fei(pseudonym),was a bit abnormal:he was turning round and round,yelling,crying,making noises,and slapping himself on the head.Ran rushed her son to the hospital in panic,only to be told that Tan was diagnosed with autism,to which there is no effective treatment yet.Ran Cunying was heartbroken.

Ran set out on a long journey seeking medical treatment.She took her son to hospitals in big cities such as Wuhan,Beijing,and Shanghai; she also visited traditional Chinese medicine practitioners in remote mountains.Yet her hope was shattered repeatedly.She vowed to cure her son,to help him live independently,no matter how difficult it would be.

In the process of seeking medical treatment over the years,Ran met other families in similar situations.“There are many children out there like my son,whose mothers are in great pain and despair because they don’t know where to get help.” In order to help more autistic children,she decided to study special education and start a special school with the support of her husband and family.

She soon took action.She went to take professional training in Beijing,Wuhan,and Nanjing and successfully obtained the proper qualification to run a special education program.Later on,she and her husband quit their wellpaid jobs and put all their savings,along with contributions from family and friends,into the Bo’ai School of Special Education of Yichang,which they founded in 2003.

From 3 students to more,she built a private non-profit school with low tuition

It was fairly hard at the very beginning.In order to start her school,Ran had to go from one place to the next to raise funds.“During that time,almost all my relatives and friends avoided me.No one would open their doors when I knocked.All of them were afraid that I might borrow money again.”

當(dāng)確認(rèn)6 歲的兒子是一名自閉癥患者時(shí)，冉存英決定不惜一切代價(jià)救孩子。

而當(dāng)她發(fā)現(xiàn)還有許多家庭的孩子面臨著同樣的災(zāi)難時(shí)，她決定幫助所有家庭一起抗?fàn)帯?/p>

從絕望到堅(jiān)強(qiáng) 患兒媽媽辭工辦特校

1999年12月，冉存英發(fā)現(xiàn)兒子譚非（化名）有些異常：轉(zhuǎn)圈、亂叫、時(shí)哭時(shí)鬧，不停地用手打自己的頭。驚慌失措的冉存英帶著兒子來(lái)到醫(yī)院，經(jīng)診斷，譚非患上了自閉癥，目前尚無(wú)有效的治療方法，冉存英心如刀絞。

Ran Cunying training an autistic child 冉存英在訓(xùn)練自閉癥兒童

從此，冉存英開(kāi)始了漫長(zhǎng)的求醫(yī)問(wèn)藥之路。她帶著兒子到武漢、北京、上海等大城市，甚至去深山里找土郎中，希望一次次破滅。但她發(fā)誓不管以后多么困難，都要治好兒子的病，至少要讓他能夠自理。

多年的求醫(yī)過(guò)程中，冉存英接觸到了一些與她有相似遭遇的家庭?！坝泻芏嘞裎覂鹤舆@樣的孩子沒(méi)有地方可以去治療，他們的媽媽十分痛苦絕望。”為了幫助更多自閉癥孩子，冉存英在丈夫和親友的支持下，下定決心去重新學(xué)習(xí)專業(yè)知識(shí)，并創(chuàng)辦一所特殊教育學(xué)校。

說(shuō)干就干，冉存英奔走于北京、武漢、南京等地參加特殊教育的專業(yè)培訓(xùn)，取得了特殊教育資格證書(shū)。隨后，她和丈夫雙雙辭去待遇優(yōu)厚的工作，把買(mǎi)斷工齡的錢(qián)全部投入，加上從親友處的籌資，于2003年辦起了宜昌市博愛(ài)特殊教育學(xué)校。

The school started with only 3 students and 4 teachers.“It was difficult for our school to recruit teachers.Special education teachers and rehabilitation trainers were hard to recruit,among whom many were reluctant to come due to the potential pressure of the work.” As a result,she had to recruit kindergarten and primary school teachers,to whom she provided training.

To help more autistic children,Ran went out to visit homes with her teachers,knocking on one door after another and leaving their footprints all over the city of Yichang.More and more students came as her sincerity won parents’trust.Considering that many families would not be able to afford it if the tuition was too high,Ran tried her best to reduce expenses,control costs,and lower the tuition fees as much as possible.Meanwhile,in order to obtain more funds from public welfare projects,she changed her school into a non-profit organization.

“After converting to a private,non-profit organization,no return is to be expected from all the initial investment,and I can only be paid by salary.” Ran recalled that,the school was so financially strapped at the end of a year that she had to wait for her husband to come back home with his salary from his other job in order to pay the teachers at her school,who

then could have a peaceful spring festival.

After saving many children,she feels guilty for her own

As Bo’ai School developed,Ran started to worry about the future of some of her elder students.As they grew older,many had already gained the ability to take care of themselves,yet had difficulty getting a job and making an independent living.Students are supposed to leave school when they turn 15 according to school regulations.To solve the problems they might face later in life,she came up with the idea of initiating a business in which they could work and stay.In October of 2014,she launched a restaurant,“Rainman Happy Restaurant,”signaling the first non-profit restaurant in Hubei,aiming at supporting employment for people with mental disabilities.

In 2016,with the support of the Employment Center of Disabled Persons’ Federation of Yichang,Ran initiated and founded Yichang’s first employment training base for persons with disabilities,which has enrolled,up to now,more than 80 students with intellectual disabilities and has become a launchpad from which these intellectually disabled students can enter society.

Ran Cunying admitted frankly that she started her journey in special education to save her son.But over the years of working in the field,she got so wrapped up in her work that she barely had time for her own son,for which she felt quite guilty.“On one occasion our school held a big event,at the end of which there was a big group photo.My son rushed to stand behind me,patted me on the back,and said,‘Mom,I want to go home.’ At that moment,I couldn’t help wondering whether I had made the right choice or not.”At present,the Bo’ai School of Special Education has become a rehabilitation institution designated by Disabled Person’s Federations of municipal,provincial,and national levels.It is also one of the 50 institutions supported by a pilot program for the rehabilitation and education of autistic children under the China Disabled Persons’ Federation.Looking back on the hardships over the past 18 years since the foundation of the school,Ran feels grateful that,“I have never been defeated by disaster.”

(Translation:Lu Qiongyao)

從3 個(gè)到許多 為降學(xué)費(fèi)毅然轉(zhuǎn)“民非”

建校之初，冉存英四處奔波借錢(qián)，“那段時(shí)間，親朋好友都不敢和我見(jiàn)面，連敲門(mén)都沒(méi)有人開(kāi)了，都被我借怕了?！?/p>

剛開(kāi)始，全校只有3 個(gè)孩子和4 個(gè)老師。“我們招老師也比較難，特殊教育師、康復(fù)訓(xùn)練師很難找到，還有不少老師擔(dān)心壓力太大而不愿前來(lái)?！比酱嬗⒄f(shuō)，為此，她先招聘幼師和普師，然后對(duì)她們進(jìn)行培訓(xùn)。

由于生源不足，冉存英帶著老師一家一家地走訪，足跡幾乎踏遍了宜昌。她的真誠(chéng)贏得了家長(zhǎng)們的信任，學(xué)生越來(lái)越多。如果學(xué)校收費(fèi)太高，很多家庭承受不起，于是她拼命地壓縮開(kāi)支、控制成本，盡可能降低學(xué)費(fèi)。同時(shí)，為了給這些孩子爭(zhēng)取更多的公益項(xiàng)目資金，她毅然地將學(xué)校轉(zhuǎn)成了民辦非營(yíng)利機(jī)構(gòu)。

“轉(zhuǎn)成民非機(jī)構(gòu)后，所有的前期投入都不能再計(jì)回報(bào)，而且我也只能拿工資?！比酱嬗⒄f(shuō)，有一年資金極度緊張，到了年底，還是等著她丈夫外出打工帶回的錢(qián)發(fā)工資，老師們才過(guò)了一個(gè)安心年。

從救兒到救世 博愛(ài)媽媽因愛(ài)生愧

隨著博愛(ài)特校的持續(xù)發(fā)展，冉存英看到具備一定的生活自理能力、但又不能獨(dú)立求職謀生的孩子年齡越來(lái)越大，十分擔(dān)憂。按學(xué)校規(guī)定，過(guò)了15歲的學(xué)生就應(yīng)該離校，她由此萌發(fā)了辦實(shí)體解決大齡孩子就業(yè)的想法。2014年10月，“雨人筷樂(lè)餐廳”應(yīng)運(yùn)而生，這是全省首家心智障礙人士支持性就業(yè)公益性示范餐廳。

2016年，在宜昌市殘聯(lián)就業(yè)中心的支持下，冉存英發(fā)起成立宜昌市首家殘疾人支持性就業(yè)培訓(xùn)基地，目前已接收80 多名心智障礙者進(jìn)行培訓(xùn)，成為了心智障礙者們走向社會(huì)的搖籃。

冉存英坦言，當(dāng)初是為了救兒子才走上特教之路的。但在辦特教的這些年，身不由己地陷在事務(wù)中，對(duì)兒子特別虧欠?！坝幸淮螌W(xué)校搞大型活動(dòng)，最后有一個(gè)大合影，兒子搶著站到我身后，拍著我的背說(shuō)‘?huà)寢屛蚁牖丶摇?。那一刻，我都有點(diǎn)懷疑自己的選擇了。”

目前，博愛(ài)特校已成為國(guó)家、湖北省、宜昌市殘聯(lián)三級(jí)定點(diǎn)康復(fù)機(jī)構(gòu)，還是中殘聯(lián)孤獨(dú)癥兒童康復(fù)教育試點(diǎn)項(xiàng)目扶持的50 家機(jī)構(gòu)之一?；厥捉ㄐ?8年來(lái)的艱難，冉存英只是慶幸，“我從來(lái)沒(méi)被災(zāi)難擊倒。”