Disability Awareness Talk
At birth, most of us are blessed with four functional limbs, two eyes to see the world, and a pair of ears with which to listen to Lady Gaga’s music. A normal life is a joyous one indeed. It’s a blessing to be able to walk around a park smelling the roses and enjoying the scenery, to play a high-speed game of tennis or football, or even to show up at a Transformers screening and to have all your senses titillated by the combination of explosions, epic robot battles, and scenes featuring Megan Fox moving in slow motion right in front or your eyes.
Unfortunately, not all of us are so fortunate as to be able to experience these things. Among us are people who cannot see, cannot hear, cannot talk, and cannot think rationally due to physical or mental disadvantages they may have had the misfortune to inherit since birth, hindering them from participating in society and from accessing the full spectrum of experiences available to a normal human being. Many of these people exist in this world. Many of us walk the city blissfully ignorant of these people, occasionally stopping to observe them in mild pity and patronizing them in view of our perceived superiority.
On the 18th of August a Disability Awareness Talk was held at the Beta Theatre of Taylor’s College Sri Hartamas. It was organized in conjunction with Respect Week, the brainchild of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme students. It was presented by Ms. Elaine Loh, a young coordinator working in the field of addressing learning disabilities, with five years of experience working for a non-profit NGO known as Malaysian CARE, or the Malaysian Christian Association for Relief. The talk, by the virtue of her bubbly disposition and its interactive nature, created an extremely enlightening experience to all who were present, bringing inspiration, a deeper understanding of disability, as well as the role we play as members of society in integrating disabled people into society.
A highlight of our session with Ms. Elaine was, of course, her creative icebreaking session. Pasting labels marked with a ‘social status’ on everyone’s foreheads, she asked us to choose people we would invite on movie dates, start a company with, and even marry, among other things. It was interesting, and really fun to watch people gather around people labeled with high social status such as ‘millionaire’, ‘supermodel’, and ‘rich people’, and shun people with statuses such as ‘homeless person’, ‘policeman’, and ‘person who cannot keep secrets’. There was even one person labeled ‘Ms. Malaysia’.
Introducing the various types of disabilities, as well as various concepts such as the Social Model of treating disabled people as opposed to the Medical Model, Ms. Elaine taught us that we should accept disabled people, rather than shun them and incessantly try to force them into ‘normalcy’ with medical treatment. She taught us about the ways in which we should help the disabled to participate in society, e.g. allowing the wheelchair-bound to walk, the hearing-impaired to hear, etc, using an analogy featuring a star and a box, in which the star represented the individual and the box represented society.
She taught us that rather than change the individual drastically so that he or she can fit in, we should make an effort to look at the problem from another perspective, to ask ‘what part of this activity makes the individual disabled?’ and fix that. For instance, how can we make it so people who can’t walk can go up the stairs? Not fix their legs with hundreds of thousands of dollars of medical surgery. No, all we need to do is add a ramp next to the stairs, bringing down the line that separates a disabled person from an able-bodied person.
She also imparted unto us the way we should treat disabled people. We should not patronize them or talk to them as if they were stupid, but rather empower them by teaching them independence. We should not show unwarranted pity unto them but treat them with the respect and dignity they deserve as fellow human beings with their own talents, abilities, and opinions. As if to drive the point home, she showed a touching video of a young boy named Samuel who has been unable to walk since birth, his progress through childhood, and his experience in an integrated elementary school. Here, disabled children are taught alongside able-bodied children. A striking aspect of the video was that during an interview of Samuel’s friends, they did not talk about his disability, instead they commented on his likes and dislikes, showing the audience that despite their physical or mental limitations, disabled people too, can live normal and fulfilling lives free of discrimination and social stigma.
To end the event, the Respect Week committee thanked Ms. Elaine for taking the time and effort to deliver the talk to us, presenting her with a token of their appreciation. A touching video of a father-son duo, both afflicted with physical disabilities participating in a triathlon at the Olympics, was shown. The father had a heart condition, and the son cerebral palsy. Nonetheless, both completed the race through sweat and tears, persevering despite their limitations. In fact, they finished in 37th place. Members of the audience could be seen wiping their tears away after the screening.
All in all, the event was without a doubt, an overwhelming success. I believe that I am not alone in saying that it was truly an amazing learning experience. Our thanks to Ms. Elaine for the wonderful session, and congratulations to the Respect Week committee members on conducting such a well-organized event!
BY VICTOR TAN WENG SENG
Unfortunately, not all of us are so fortunate as to be able to experience these things. Among us are people who cannot see, cannot hear, cannot talk, and cannot think rationally due to physical or mental disadvantages they may have had the misfortune to inherit since birth, hindering them from participating in society and from accessing the full spectrum of experiences available to a normal human being. Many of these people exist in this world. Many of us walk the city blissfully ignorant of these people, occasionally stopping to observe them in mild pity and patronizing them in view of our perceived superiority.
On the 18th of August a Disability Awareness Talk was held at the Beta Theatre of Taylor’s College Sri Hartamas. It was organized in conjunction with Respect Week, the brainchild of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme students. It was presented by Ms. Elaine Loh, a young coordinator working in the field of addressing learning disabilities, with five years of experience working for a non-profit NGO known as Malaysian CARE, or the Malaysian Christian Association for Relief. The talk, by the virtue of her bubbly disposition and its interactive nature, created an extremely enlightening experience to all who were present, bringing inspiration, a deeper understanding of disability, as well as the role we play as members of society in integrating disabled people into society.
A highlight of our session with Ms. Elaine was, of course, her creative icebreaking session. Pasting labels marked with a ‘social status’ on everyone’s foreheads, she asked us to choose people we would invite on movie dates, start a company with, and even marry, among other things. It was interesting, and really fun to watch people gather around people labeled with high social status such as ‘millionaire’, ‘supermodel’, and ‘rich people’, and shun people with statuses such as ‘homeless person’, ‘policeman’, and ‘person who cannot keep secrets’. There was even one person labeled ‘Ms. Malaysia’.
Introducing the various types of disabilities, as well as various concepts such as the Social Model of treating disabled people as opposed to the Medical Model, Ms. Elaine taught us that we should accept disabled people, rather than shun them and incessantly try to force them into ‘normalcy’ with medical treatment. She taught us about the ways in which we should help the disabled to participate in society, e.g. allowing the wheelchair-bound to walk, the hearing-impaired to hear, etc, using an analogy featuring a star and a box, in which the star represented the individual and the box represented society.
She taught us that rather than change the individual drastically so that he or she can fit in, we should make an effort to look at the problem from another perspective, to ask ‘what part of this activity makes the individual disabled?’ and fix that. For instance, how can we make it so people who can’t walk can go up the stairs? Not fix their legs with hundreds of thousands of dollars of medical surgery. No, all we need to do is add a ramp next to the stairs, bringing down the line that separates a disabled person from an able-bodied person.
She also imparted unto us the way we should treat disabled people. We should not patronize them or talk to them as if they were stupid, but rather empower them by teaching them independence. We should not show unwarranted pity unto them but treat them with the respect and dignity they deserve as fellow human beings with their own talents, abilities, and opinions. As if to drive the point home, she showed a touching video of a young boy named Samuel who has been unable to walk since birth, his progress through childhood, and his experience in an integrated elementary school. Here, disabled children are taught alongside able-bodied children. A striking aspect of the video was that during an interview of Samuel’s friends, they did not talk about his disability, instead they commented on his likes and dislikes, showing the audience that despite their physical or mental limitations, disabled people too, can live normal and fulfilling lives free of discrimination and social stigma.
To end the event, the Respect Week committee thanked Ms. Elaine for taking the time and effort to deliver the talk to us, presenting her with a token of their appreciation. A touching video of a father-son duo, both afflicted with physical disabilities participating in a triathlon at the Olympics, was shown. The father had a heart condition, and the son cerebral palsy. Nonetheless, both completed the race through sweat and tears, persevering despite their limitations. In fact, they finished in 37th place. Members of the audience could be seen wiping their tears away after the screening.
All in all, the event was without a doubt, an overwhelming success. I believe that I am not alone in saying that it was truly an amazing learning experience. Our thanks to Ms. Elaine for the wonderful session, and congratulations to the Respect Week committee members on conducting such a well-organized event!
BY VICTOR TAN WENG SENG
