Watch: To Inspire Hope, Qin Gao Shares a Personal ‘Mother’s Journey Through Autism’

_{Above: Prof. Qin Gao speaking at the annual Parent Conference and Resource Fair in Queens, NY on Mar. 26, 2026.}

In honor of Autism Acceptance Month, the Weatherhead East Asian Institute is pleased to share the keynote address that our faculty member Qin Gao delivered on March 26 at the Parent Conference and Resource Fair hosted by the School of Education at St. John's University and the Community Inclusion & Development Alliance (CIDA), a grassroots nonprofit organization based in Queens, New York. The conference and fair is an annual event that provides support to families of children and young adults with disabilities.

The candid, heartfelt speech was titled “Finding Peace, Power, and Hope Through Community: A Mother’s Journey in Autism.” It marked the first time Professor Gao — Maurice V. Russell Professor of Social Policy and Social Work Practice and Associate Dean for Doctoral Education at Columbia’s School of Social Work, as well as Director of the China Center for Social Policy and Acting Director of Columbia’s Asian American Initiative — has publicly shared her personal experience of autism.

In the speech (embedded below), Professor Gao presents herself in three roles. First, as the mother of and caregiver for her children, one of whom is autistic; second, as a member of the community of people with disabilities and their caregivers; and third, as a Columbia University professor and researcher who can apply her professional skills both to educating herself and others about her son’s condition and to advocating for policies that might benefit families like her own.  

In 2017, as she relates, Professor Gao had reached a peak of professional success, with a promotion, a book publication, and a dedicated research center under her belt in the same academic year. But, she says, “I didn’t know the half of it.” Her world was upended when her younger son, not yet three, was diagnosed with autism. She tried to maintain a façade (“on the outside, I was the strong, determined mother”), but inwardly she grappled with an increasing sense of being overwhelmed.

Professor Gao regained her equilibrium partly through the help of therapy (“be brave to seek help”), but more importantly, she tells her audience, “I found my community” — in the form of the Alliance for Families with Developmental Needs (AFDN), an organization for Chinese American families with special-needs children. 

Professor Gao goes on to explain how, given her multiple roles, she has come to see herself as a bridge between the scientific and caregiver communities. As one of more than 200 researchers in the Columbia Autism Interest Group, she has expanded her own scholarly work from focusing on poverty and material well-being to studying the disability community — identifying its needs and proposing policies and services in support of people with disabilities and their caregivers. In late 2020, she co-organized and -hosted a multidisciplinary two-day symposium on disability and social policy; she subsequently co-edited a special issue of the academic journal Global Social Policy on the same topic.

Toward the end of her address, Professor Gao summarizes how all these activities, along with her own son’s progress, have imbued her with a sense of perseverance and optimism. She leaves her listeners with an equally positive outlook:

“Science is moving forward. There is hope, and many people are working in this field. So I want us, as parents, to know this, and to feel we are not alone.”

Watch the complete address below:

Autism resources related to this article:
Alliance for Families with Developmental Needs (AFDN)
Community Inclusion & Development Alliance (CIDA)
Autism Science Foundation