Autism is a disease which can lead to mental and social issues among children, and these negative effects usually follow them for the rest of their lives. 

Much has been said about caring for autistic children. But what about autistic adults?

In a normal-looking warehouse in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, many workers are born with autism. It is managed by an organization called Mantianxing, a care center for autistic victims. 

“We are a care center for autistic children. This warehouse was built for autistic adults with a work environment, which can put all their previous cognitive and social training into practice”, said Liu Chengfeng, managing director of Mantianxing.

The warehouse fills an often overlooked need: Most government projects today are aimed at helping autistic kids below six years old. 

But what happens when they are grown up? There are roughly eight million autistic people over 14 years old in China, and many more are unregistered.

The Ningbo City charity shop is one of the clients of that warehouse. The manager of the store, Chen Haiying, said, “Everything in this small shop is donated and very often we find ourselves short of space. So we cooperated with Liu’s organization. These workers will be paid so they can have a concept of work and rewards.”

In China, there is only one government project launched aimed at helping grown-up autistic citizens, which provides limited financial support. 

Young adults victims could complete a wide range of tasks. Apart from deliveries, Liu said agriculture work is another option. His organization has a farm in the suburb. 

A volunteer identifying himself as Mr. Zhang, who's a grandfather to an autistic child, comes to train these people for farm work, which is not easy. 

“There are many simple things that normal people can learn within five minutes. For them, it could take days to learn," said Zhang.

Liu said even though the challenges are huge, giving these young adults social experience is the way to go, because at the end of the day, what truly helps them is not any more special care or visits, but acceptance from society.