Hikaru Azuma

Hikaru Azuma is a main character of the manga series 光とともに...〜自閉症児を抱えて〜 (Hikari to Tomoni... ~Jiheishōji o Kakaete~, With the Light: Raising an Autistic Child).

Character creation
While the story and characters themselves are fictional, they are based on interviews with and research on families with autistic children.

Biography
Initially thought to be deaf, Hikaru is diagnosed with autism at a young age. Both his mother Sachiko and his father Masato have difficulty accepting this. Masato works long hours and Sachiko struggles with societal expectations of how mothers should raise their children. They separate for a while, but get together again when Masato collapses from overwork and reconsiders his priorities. From then on they work together to raise Hikaru while facing various obstacles such as judgement from strangers and families alike or the education system.