Saigon girl creates dance challenge to support autistic brother

The 11th grader in Ho Chi Minh City introduces her brother in a YouTube video thus: "His name is Ryan, and he was diagnosed with autism as a child. He never calls me sister, never plays games with me. He wants to play alone, and says nonsense words sometimes or runs in a circle."

Ryan, who is skilled at solving puzzles, has been discriminated against by people and rejected by many schools.

Sandy Nguyen and her brother Ryan Nguyen. Photo courtesy of Sandy Nguyen.

In the six-minute video, Sandy shows childhood photos of her brother before dancing with him and other friends in a so-called "Puzzle Dance Challenge."

She hopes people will spread her message and dance to "share your love to my brother and the autism community."

Nguyen’s Puzzle Dance Challenge has gone viral and been practiced by netizens on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. The hashtag #PuzzleDanceChallege has been shared more than 1,000 times on social networks.

Thousands of people, including celebrities, have uploaded their dance video with hashtags #Autism, #PuzzleDanceChallege, #KhacBietVanTuyet (Different But Great) to show their support for those living on the spectrum after watching Nguyen’s video.

Vietnam is estimated to have 500,000 people with autism, which means millions of their relatives are struggling to deal with the syndrome, but the condition is not defined or included in the Law on Persons with Disabilities, and there are no statistics from the Ministry of Health on autism.