Zhipeng who stepped into middle age
Smile again and welcome the future
First acquaintance
Get along
Smile again
postscript
Chen Zhipeng, 36 years old, a person with Down syndrome, moderately mentally disabled. As a young athlete, Chi Peng not only represented Hong Kong in dance performances in different countries, but also won awards in a number of dragon boat competitions. Until a few years ago, Zhipeng's body began to age, and different patients followed. After undergoing different surgeries, Zhipeng's mobility was greatly reduced. At the same time, Zhipeng also encountered some unpleasant experiences after changing workshops, leaving a shadow, resulting in a more depressed mood and anxiety. Zhipeng, who used to be flexible and flexible, always had a smile on his face, but as he grew older, he had all kinds of uneasiness and sadness in his heart.
"Raise a child at the age of 100, and worry about ninety-nine." In the face of Zhipeng's low mood, Zhipeng's mother (Peng's mother) is also very worried, and she has tried everything to improve the situation. Because as parents, they just want their children to be happy. But whether it was changing the working environment for Zhipeng or letting him receive psychiatric drugs, the situation did not improve much. What worries Peng's mother even more is that Zhipeng's emotional instability may bring great trouble to others. In a crowded or unfamiliar environment, this may evoke shadows and fears in Zhipeng's heart, causing him to fluctuate emotionally. Zhipeng, who is not good at expressing his inner feelings, may only be able to express it by yelling, clenching his fists or stepping on the ground, but in the eyes of others, these are all some strange and disturbing behaviors. Faced with this situation that has lasted for some time, Peng's mother is still helpless, coupled with the fact that she also needs to take care of her eldest son with intellectual disabilities, all kinds of pressure have exhausted Peng's mother.
Until they meet their mentor Mei Ling, who reaches out to Zhipeng and Mother Peng in this difficult time, so that they can all smile again. Mei Ling is a housewife who has been very active in volunteering since she retired early a few years ago. Since three years ago, she has volunteered for swimming classes organised by the Down Syndrome Association, and has since volunteered for tai chi and fitness classes. In the summer of 2015, the social worker of Tong Ka Hin invited Mei Ling to participate in the "Diligence Project" mentorship and alumni matching programme, so that she could become a mentor and friend of Zhi Peng and participate in the chair dance class organized by the project with him. At first, the two sides may only meet in the chair dance class on Friday, so the relationship between the two parties is still in the run-in stage, especially Zhipeng is not familiar with Mei ling, so he is more passive.
In order to get to know Zhipeng better and deepen their relationship, Mei Ling began to invite Zhipeng to participate in other activities of the center, and participating in the stargazing camp for the blind was an important experience for them. On the day of the event, before leaving, Zhipeng may have thought of spending the night with many strangers, so he was afraid in his heart and refused to get on the bus despite constant struggle, and the social worker of the center, Mei Ling and Peng's mother all spent a lot of effort and time to get him on the bus. But in the car, Zhipeng still could not calm his emotions, his hands were clenched into fists, his whole body was shaking, and he shouted several times. At this time, Mei Ling held his hand by his side, although Zhipeng still had some worries and could not completely calm down for a while, but he knew that Meiling was by his side, and Meiling invited him to eat candy, so Zhipeng gradually calmed down. Who knows, when they got out of the car, Zhipeng saw the crowd of people in the venue, and his heart began to get nervous again, and different signs of anxiety appeared again. Faced with this situation, Mei Ling took him to an open place, let him stay away from the crowd, and sat quietly with him for a while, and Zhipeng slowly calmed down his emotions. Although Mei Ling sat quietly with Zhipeng most of the time throughout the camping and rarely participated in the group activities arranged by the conference, the two days and nights of getting along did allow them to begin to build a deep relationship, making Zhipeng begin to trust Mei Ling, because he knew that with Mei Ling by his side, everything would be fine.
Since then, Zhipeng and Mei Ling have gotten along more harmoniously, not only interacting more in the chair dance class than before, but also taking Zhipeng to different places from time to time, including Hong Kong Park and Disneyland. And every time they have a lot of fun, there are many happy moments, such as when Zhipeng personally drives the car at Disneyland, he deliberately crashes the car against the wall, which startles Meiling. Therefore, whenever Zhipeng and Mei Ling finish chair dance classes or play, he will always have a smile on his face when he comes home, and take the initiative to share with Peng's mother: "Today Mei Ling will take me to... Today I am with Mei ling..." Seeing her son regain her long-lost smile, Mother Peng also put down the big stone in her heart and smiled heartily, because as parents, they actually just want their children to be happy. Therefore, she is very grateful to Mei Ling, because her appearance and her help allow Zhipeng to gradually get rid of negative emotions and regain happiness.
Mei Ling's words are very profound, she shared that the satisfaction of getting along with Zhipeng and other Tang friends is great, because they are very simple and sincere, as long as we treat them with our hearts, they will be equally good to you. I believe this is Mei Ling's experience with Tang's friends. Although sometimes Tang's friends may have emotional instability like Zhipeng, in fact, they will have joys, angers and sorrows like us, but they may not be good at expressing themselves, so I believe that as long as we sincerely care and accompany them like Mei Ling, they will definitely feel it. In addition, I also want to say cheers to Mother Peng, because as a parent, it is not easy to raise and take care of your children. Seeing her hard work and love, I would like to pay tribute to her here.