Scott Mc Kiernan Presents zReportage.com Issue #1022 Story of the Week: Published TUESDAY January 6, 2026: ‘See Me, Hear Me: We Watched Our Child Disappear’ Photography by NPPF 2024 Alan Hagman Grant Recipient multiple award winning ZUMA Press contract photojournalist ROBIN RAYNE. Chris Castillo, now 18, was diagnosed with autism after developmental changes emerged around age two. In the months that followed a routine vaccination appointment and a high fever, his mother, Lionela noticed unsettling shifts: words he once spoke disappeared, eye contact faded, and the energetic toddler who sang ‘Happy Birthday’ with his sister and played kickball seemed to retreat. ‘It was traumatic,’ she says. ‘It was like watching our child disappear.’ That moment marked the beginning of a long and often painful journey for the Castillo family, one shaped by grief, fear, guilt, anger, and cultural reckoning, but also by growth, advocacy, and resilience. Years later, when Chris was abused at school, Lionela found her resolve hardening into purpose. ‘Because of you, because of what happened to you, we will always make sure no other child goes through this,’ she tells him. The path forward, she knows, is imperfect. But it is no longer without hope. Welcome to ‘See Me, Hear Me: We Watched Our Child Disappear’
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Scott Mc Kiernan, Founder & Editor-in-Chief, ZUMA Press
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