Home of the Stars, China’s first private autism community...

Home of the Stars, China’s first private autism community

50 families set up a cooperative in 2017, each invested 1 million yuan ($154,000) which enabled the cooperative to purchase a 36-acre plot of land in rural, mountainous Anhui province and fund the construction costs.

The new community, which will contain housing blocks, stores, and an artificial lake, is due to be completed next year. Until then the cooperative has set up a temporary center in a converted school building nearby.

It currently houses a dozen male residents with severe autism, aged between 13 and 28, with more expected to arrive soon before expanding next year in the community. 10 special trained care teachers and staff are working in the temporary center supported by in-house living parents.

China has about 10 million people with autism and although more government action is taken to create new facilities and implement policies, this will take time and the current 2,000 special facilities for people with autism are insufficient to provide adequate care for many nowadays.

Read more in Sixthtone article "On a Chinese Mountaintop, a Community Just for People With Autism"

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pictures by Sixthtone