The tragic death of Xue Liu has opened a painful conversation, not only about what happened along the Belize River, but about how little many people understand the challenges faced by families caring for children with special needs. Xue reportedly ran toward the river while trying to escape a bee attack and was later found lifeless in the water. Some have criticized her caregiver, Shisong Liu, for running in the opposite direction. But Autism Belize founder Christy Almeida says this is not the time to blame a grieving family. She says emergencies are unpredictable, especially for caregivers of children with autism, and the tragedy also highlights a serious risk: many neurodiverse children are drawn to water, making swimming lessons and constant safety planning critical.
Christy Almeida
Christy Almeida, Founder, Autism Belize
“I have a really hard time casting blame to any parent, especially parents who have children with special needs, children with disabilities. You don’t know what they are dealing with on a daily basis, I have a lot of people that look at me and say, “Oh, Chrissy, I don’t know how you do it.” And the bottom line is you don’t. You don’t know the nights that we don’t sleep. So A, you’re not gonna catch me blaming any family at all because we don’t know what they’re dealing with. Their mental health, the toll it takes to be a caregiver. Also, even if the – even if she was neurotypical, in situations like this, it’s flight or fright. If you would interview anyone from Mind Health Connect, I know they will tell you we never know how we’re going to react in an emergency. If you are being chased by a swarm of bees and you’re trying to hold on and this person breaks free, what do you do in that situation? And I don’t know. I would like to think if it was Mateo and it was me, I would throw myself over him. I would never let go his hand. I would like to think that. But in the reality that I don’t know. For our neurodiverse community, the water is a huge attraction. In fact, there isn’t a difference between lifespan for those on the autism spectrum and a neurotypical – a person with no issues. But the highest rate of deaths for persons with autism around the world is because of elopement and drowning. Elopement means they’re going to run away. They’re not going to realize the danger around them. And a lot of these elopements, in fact, in just the recent months, there’ve been a couple of them in the US where you’re finding the kids in bodies of water. Water is fascinating. The floating and the feeling of freedom in the water gives their body a sensation that it is not intellectually realizing that this is danger. And on top of all of that, you’re being chased by bees , they’re not going to think, “Wait a minute, I can’t swim. I can’t do this,” for it. But generally, on a whole, if I could give one advice to a family with a child who is neurodiverse is please let’s teach our children how to swim. These coaches that were out there, these lifeguards, these swimmers, you wanna do something? Have special classes for these kids.”
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