Hong Kong mother still looking for autistic son Yu Man-hon last seen 14 years ago

As the world marks Autism Awareness Day today, a Hong Kong mother with bitter experience of how little the condition is understood still dreams of her lost son almost 14 years after he vanished.

It was August 24, 2000, when Yu Man-hon - then 15 but with a mental age of two - let go of Yu Lai Wai-ling's hand at Yau Ma Tei MTR station and ran off.

It remains a mystery how the autistic and hyperactive boy managed to cross the border at Lo Wu and what happened to him after Shenzhen immigration officers tried to return him only for Hong Kong officers to turn him away.

But his mother is sure of one thing: if the border officers had understood more about his disorder he might be at home with her today.

"He didn't speak and they thought he wasn't being co-operative," she says. "He was stubborn and sometimes made surprising responses. If they were more alert, they would have sought help from a professional to handle him."

Although she has seen improvements, Yu says there is still not enough awareness of autism in Hong Kong.