'Devastating': Vancouver dad's tweet about son's empty birthday party strikes nerve
CTV
A Vancouver dad whose son is on the autism spectrum took to social media to share how painful it was to see only one classmate at his birthday party. Now, he's receiving a flood of support that he hopes marks the start of an important conversation.
A Vancouver dad whose son is on the autism spectrum took to social media to share how painful it was to see only one classmate at his birthday party. Now, he's receiving a flood of support that he hopes marks the start of an important conversation.
David Chen is a father of four and has planned and attended his fair share of kids' birthday parties. So when Max was turning six, he sent out invitations, rented out an indoor playground, assembled goodie bags, and bought enough cupcakes for all 19 kids in the class.
The party was set for Saturday and cancelling was not an option, even though 16 of the 19 families of Max's classmates had not replied to the invitation. Even as he tried to make the best of the situation, Chen said he was struck with sadness when he looked around and saw no one sitting at the child-sized tables or playing on the jungle gym.
"I thought I was OK with not a lot of people coming out, but in that moment, that emptiness hit," he said.
"I thought, I can't be the only one that's gone through something like this, and this must traumatize people. So I thought I'd put it out there … It was just devastating."
Since he tweeted, he's received hundreds and hundreds of responses. Many are from parents whose children are also "the different kid in the class," while others are from adults who still remember exactly what it was like to be in Max's position.
"One which still makes my heart bleed right now thinking about it is they said, 'It happened to me 30 years ago. I just keep thinking about that echo, about how much it has impacted someone, this very simple thing of a class birthday party,'" Chen tells CTV News.
