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.”

当确认6 岁的儿子是一名自闭症患者时，冉存英决定不惜一切代价救孩子。

而当她发现还有许多家庭的孩子面临着同样的灾难时，她决定帮助所有家庭一起抗争。

从绝望到坚强 患儿妈妈辞工办特校

1999年12月，冉存英发现儿子谭非（化名）有些异常：转圈、乱叫、时哭时闹，不停地用手打自己的头。惊慌失措的冉存英带着儿子来到医院，经诊断，谭非患上了自闭症，目前尚无有效的治疗方法，冉存英心如刀绞。

Ran Cunying training an autistic child 冉存英在训练自闭症儿童

从此，冉存英开始了漫长的求医问药之路。她带着儿子到武汉、北京、上海等大城市，甚至去深山里找土郎中，希望一次次破灭。但她发誓不管以后多么困难，都要治好儿子的病，至少要让他能够自理。

多年的求医过程中，冉存英接触到了一些与她有相似遭遇的家庭。“有很多像我儿子这样的孩子没有地方可以去治疗，他们的妈妈十分痛苦绝望。”为了帮助更多自闭症孩子，冉存英在丈夫和亲友的支持下，下定决心去重新学习专业知识，并创办一所特殊教育学校。

说干就干，冉存英奔走于北京、武汉、南京等地参加特殊教育的专业培训，取得了特殊教育资格证书。随后，她和丈夫双双辞去待遇优厚的工作，把买断工龄的钱全部投入，加上从亲友处的筹资，于2003年办起了宜昌市博爱特殊教育学校。

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)

从3 个到许多 为降学费毅然转“民非”

建校之初，冉存英四处奔波借钱，“那段时间，亲朋好友都不敢和我见面，连敲门都没有人开了，都被我借怕了。”

刚开始，全校只有3 个孩子和4 个老师。“我们招老师也比较难，特殊教育师、康复训练师很难找到，还有不少老师担心压力太大而不愿前来。”冉存英说，为此，她先招聘幼师和普师，然后对她们进行培训。

由于生源不足，冉存英带着老师一家一家地走访，足迹几乎踏遍了宜昌。她的真诚赢得了家长们的信任，学生越来越多。如果学校收费太高，很多家庭承受不起，于是她拼命地压缩开支、控制成本，尽可能降低学费。同时，为了给这些孩子争取更多的公益项目资金，她毅然地将学校转成了民办非营利机构。

“转成民非机构后，所有的前期投入都不能再计回报，而且我也只能拿工资。”冉存英说，有一年资金极度紧张，到了年底，还是等着她丈夫外出打工带回的钱发工资，老师们才过了一个安心年。

从救儿到救世 博爱妈妈因爱生愧

随着博爱特校的持续发展，冉存英看到具备一定的生活自理能力、但又不能独立求职谋生的孩子年龄越来越大，十分担忧。按学校规定，过了15岁的学生就应该离校，她由此萌发了办实体解决大龄孩子就业的想法。2014年10月，“雨人筷乐餐厅”应运而生，这是全省首家心智障碍人士支持性就业公益性示范餐厅。

2016年，在宜昌市残联就业中心的支持下，冉存英发起成立宜昌市首家残疾人支持性就业培训基地，目前已接收80 多名心智障碍者进行培训，成为了心智障碍者们走向社会的摇篮。

冉存英坦言，当初是为了救儿子才走上特教之路的。但在办特教的这些年，身不由己地陷在事务中，对儿子特别亏欠。“有一次学校搞大型活动，最后有一个大合影，儿子抢着站到我身后，拍着我的背说‘妈妈我想回家’。那一刻，我都有点怀疑自己的选择了。”

目前，博爱特校已成为国家、湖北省、宜昌市残联三级定点康复机构，还是中残联孤独症儿童康复教育试点项目扶持的50 家机构之一。回首建校18年来的艰难，冉存英只是庆幸，“我从来没被灾难击倒。”