Woman who has son with autism launches workshop to help parents

  • Report by ITV Wales reporter Kate Lewis

A woman from Swansea is hoping people will show "more understanding" to help improve the lives of Chinese people living with autism.

Hazel Lim moved to the area five years ago and has been helping parents whose children have autism understand the condition.

It comes as she was nominated in the Community Champion category in the Womenspire Awards due to be announced next week.

The awards look to celebrate inspirational Welsh women.

Hazel has been running workshops for parents whose children have autism.

Speaking about the issue, Hazel told ITV Wales there is a "stigma" around autism in Chinese culture and said she wants to help reassure families there are things they can do to help reduce the impacts.

She says that was the main reason behind her starting the Chinese Autism Support Group.

"Imagine all the Chinese minorities who are living here in the UK today," she said.

"They have language barriers, immigration fears and people living with autism do find it easy to be accepted by the community so they are finding themselves isolated."

"They need to build up confidence with their parents and so I decided to run workshops and a lot of talks to help families understand autism better."

Hazel started the workshops for families after her son was diagnosed with autism. Not only did she launch the conversations, but she also decided to study a masters degree in masters degree in Autism and Related conditions at Swansea University.

"I was fascinated when I started looking at it and I realised that it wasn't as bad as we thought," she said.

When speaking of her nomination Hazel said she feels "very humbled".

"I hope this will help families and these children's futures be better."