Youngster becomes autism educator after overcoming the condition

A confident and gregarious youth, 16-year-old Nicholas Liu Jichin had an audience of several hundred people at Chinese University enthralled last November. His 30-minute talk at an autism conference turned into a two-hour session, as parents plied him with questions about his experience.

At the age of three, Nicholas was diagnosed as having high-functioning autism. But today, no one meeting the Hong Kong International School student would realise it.

He undertook a long and arduous journey to overcome his condition. Kindergarten and primary school were lonely times.

"I didn't know exactly what was wrong with me. I didn't know what was deterring people from making friends with me … I felt lost," Nicholas says.

"When a teacher read a book in class, I was not aware there was an environment around me, and I would sing my favourite song and disrupt the class. I did things that were unintentionally offensive. I had a really short attention span for things that I didn't like. My classmates used to tell me I was a bit weird. As a result, I didn't have many friends in primary school."

Nicholas' parents, former banker Willy Liu Ke-wei and his wife Linda, became anxious when specialists at Matilda Hospital diagnosed him with autism.