Wei Lun's journal reflection 1

Monday, March 21, 2011 ♥ 10:47 AM

The pre-trip AWWA training really led to me learn a great deal more about disability. We may have learnt about what the different disabilities are and what disables people with disability through our managing disability module, but we never ever got to see the full picture. At AWWA, they taught us how to transfer wheelchair users from their wheelchair to another seat. This led to me to think that people with disability really have more sides than we see. Firstly, they are not only impaired, but it also led to them have many difficulties in doing daily tasks. But what sort of help or assistance do they really need? With the gradual improvement in technology and with proper training, certain difficulties can be overcome. However, the thing that will always stand in the way of the people with disability is the stigmatisation by the general public.

During the AWWA interaction session, initially, I have to admit that I was a little apprehensive towards how to interact with them. I did not know if I should offer them my assistance or not. But as we got along, I grew comfortable with them, and started speaking to them like a normal friend. The crucial point here is that I needed time and interaction with them for me to realise that they are "normal". But do other people have this chance like me? Not many people do i guess.

♥♥♥YEP Team♥♥♥

Sa Wee's Mini Diary!

♥ 1:47 AM

hi peeps. hmmm~ Overall, i would say that the pre yep programme was a success. (: It kind of started with cassie and myself meeting up with some year threes to discuss the programme and while planning, it was really important to note that whatever activities that we plan for, awwa clients can enjoy and be part of it. I think that was the main challenge because we had to ensure that our activities were inclusive and suitable for the clients. For example, when we wanted to have some art session, we had to be careful in ensuring that the clients would be able to hold color pencils and crayons and in case there might be some who cant, we had to make sure that there's a backup plan to it. For example getting a variety of art tools such as paint n sponge so that clients who cant grip thin pencils can perhaps grip a sponge which size is bigger. I think I've learnt how to be more thoughtful when it comes to planning programmes for clients. Not only is needs analysis important, it is also important to put yourself in the clients' shoes if you want to plan programmes for them. Only then, you're able to see whether certain activities you have planned for are suitable.

Had a thought on my mind on our pre-yep day. As i was required to wait at Clementi MRT bus stop for 3 AWWA clients, I recieved a call by the staff who said that she n the vehicle would be delayed, so the staff mentioned that i could meet up with the AWWA clients first at the bus stop without her. I told her that I wouldnt be able to recognise the AWWA clients because I hadnt met them before. So we both decided that I would just wait for the staff and the vehicle to arrive. While I was there, at the bus stop standing and waiting, I found myself looking at the people around me, trying to see if i could recognise them as AWWA clients. Immediately, i felt that it was really bad at me. Cos it felt like i was judging people based on their "external traits". I felt quite guilty and felt that perhaps sometimes in society, what people always see first is the outside of a person. They judge and make assumptions about them based on simply what they see. However, what they often neglect is that in every being, there is also some form of inner beauty, which can only be revealed with much effort, sincerity and genuinity made to know the individual. But at least, i was aware of my behavior and I told myself that it isnt right just to judge people on the outside. A learning point for me, and I hope through sharing this experience of mine, all of us would try to avoid making assumptions about people or certain communities simply base on what we see.

In a nutshell, i also felt that the clients were really warm towards us too ^^ glad that they had fun, and were so spontaneous and supportive during our programme. People with disabilities are people like us, they have faith, dreams, hopes and happiness to pursue too (:
Many many many thanks to cassie n fellow team who had made the programme possible. Spread the love !

♥♥♥YEP Team♥♥♥

JY's reflections

♥ 1:05 AM

Actually right my biggest take away is humility.

♥♥♥YEP Team♥♥♥

RAJ - journal 1

♥ 12:31 AM

personally i believe that we are all the same, suffering from disabilities, or enjoying life without. we are all the same and that's why i think that everyone living in this very earth deserve the same treatment, respect and opportunities. we are all human, mistakes are our hobbies and negative traits make us who we are. so far, through this YEP journey, i learnt teamwork for sure. learnt that there are many people arond us who have different past and dreams. i pray that i will make the children there smile and laugh. and i can laugh with them =)

RAJ

♥♥♥YEP Team♥♥♥

Lucas Journal 1

Sunday, March 20, 2011 ♥ 11:58 PM

There are various prejudices against people with disabilities, but I’m strongly against it. We grow up together, meant to help one another tide through woes and overcome obstacles. But here we are, fighting with each other, tearing one another apart, especially those with disabilities. It is a very abstract concept of compassion and survival, in which sadly people with disabilities do not stand to receive full benefits of such an ideology. Because of certain barriers and stigmas, they are restrained and confined to boundaries. Even if there are people with disabilities who succeed, they are shot down with criticisms.

The training has equipped us with many vital skills needed to help interact with people with disabilities. The exposure to various equipments, the practical applications of such equipments and also the opportunity to get to know more about people with disabilities have brought about new insights and a greater sense of empathy. Not only that, I have become more sensitive and observant to their needs. These are all essential in paving way to a greater understanding of people with disabilities.

Many a times, people often neglect the fact that people with disabilities have similar enthusiasm to learn and enhance their own character development. Labels are pasted on them and people don't take in consideration their feelings and perspectives. People with disabilities can be very independent too. The things that we can do, they can do it just as brilliantly as we can.

Lucas

♥♥♥YEP Team♥♥♥

nanny's journal

♥ 11:34 PM

They say a picture speaks a thousand words. So from this, I have pretty much written an essay. How I wish I could do the same for my assignments! =X

Let me summarise my ‘1000 word reflection’ for you. It was such a coincidence that on the exact same day of our pre YEP activity, while waiting for the bus home, something happened. There was this particular guy sitting at the bus stop waiting for the bus. He looked normal and all was well until he went to this lady and asked for $2. The lady then scolded him and said “why you want to take money from me? You got hands, you got legs. Go work lah!” and she went off. At first I thought they were mother and son and things weren’t pretty at home. So I ignored.

He then went to another person and asked for money. This time round he got scolded and shoo-ed away by the guy. He approached me and did the same. Sad to say, I didn’t have small change so I couldn’t give him any. He continued doing the same thing and then sat down to rest.

Then suddenly, he just ‘burst out’! He was calling the guy who scolded him crazy and all. Those sitting beside him walked away and he was left sitting alone. A couple came over and when the wife wanted to sit down, the husband took her hands and shook his head. They too walked away from him.

Then did I realise that he was suffering from some mental illness and have been viewed as ‘crazy’ by those at the bus stop. From this, it’s pretty obvious how the society view these people. It’s kind of sad to see such things happening around you. I mean, they don’t even say things nicely to him. They just shout and scold and avoid being near him.

This continued even on the bus. Everyone was ok with him boarding the bus at first. Until he started to throw his ‘tantrum’ did everyone decided to move away from him. All he wanted was $2 and he asked them politely. But just because he was ‘crazy’, everyone treated him with lesser respect and like as if he was not part of the society.

It made me ponder. How will I feel if I was the one that’s been labelled as ‘crazy’? It really made me think deep but sad to say, I have no answer to my question. I hope I will be able to find an answer through this YEP and hopefully from there find a way to help people like him cos it was really very sad.

And how is this linked to pre YEP? Well, I thought I should share about this and make you ponder with me too on how you will feel if you are one of them with disabilities. Hope it can help to change the mindset/stereotyped that people have and make this country a better place to live in. :D

♥♥♥YEP Team♥♥♥

Hasinah - Journal 1

♥ 11:28 PM

Initially, especially before the Pre-Yep activity, my thoughts on disability were that PWD needed a lot of special care and attention and that they wouldn't be able to participate in many activities like able-bodied people can. I also felt that inclusion was important so as to ease the difficulties of activities for PWD as well as to give them equal opportunities to socialize, learn and integrate into the society.

Because of these thoughts that much care and professionalism would be required to handle clients with disabilities, I was honestly quite nervous and scared that I would not be able to cater to their needs and aid them as we had only been through one briefing session about handling PWD. When I was within the group which was supposed to receive the AWWA clients from the carpark, I feared that I may not be able to provide the best of help to them. These feelings were probably triggered by the unfamiliarity of being around PWD, as well as handling of wheelchairs.

However, I was actually surprised at how independent the clients were by navigating themselves in the wheelchair. They were also comfortable in making conversations with us and made the effort to interact with us too. In fact, they were all friendly, cheerful and enthusiastic during the Pre-Yep activity.

This experience with working with the AWWA clients has made me realise that PWD are more than willing to learn and participate with others as long as opportunities are provided for them. It was also an insightful learning experience which made me realise that I had wrongly assumed how dependent PWD are. Therefore, the next time when working with PWD, I will take into account that they are actually quite comfortable in moving around by themselves and that they need aid when there are environmental restrictions. I will also be more calm and confident when handling PWD as they are actually friendly people too. I can thus use this experience to interact better when working with PWD during our trip to Cambodia.

However, I feel that much more has to be done in terms of inclusion in Singapore schools as there still is a noticeable segregation between PWD and able bodied students. As an example, many schools are actually not wheelchair-friendly and thus changes and improvements to the school environments have to be made in order to implement inclusion.

♥♥♥YEP Team♥♥♥

Xing Yong journal 1

♥ 11:28 PM

I remember bracing myself before the pre-YEP activity to handle some extremely unique individuals. Although i knew they too, were humans like us, i was still somewhat surprised to be interacting with people whom were the same as us, apart from a few physical disabilities. Striking a conversation was as easy as having it with any stranger you meet on the street.

With that being said, it can be quite easy to forget they fact that DO have difficulties, and i have often neglected them in simple chores which i took for granted, such as opening the pen. Although some may be as outgoing and interactive as any other person, some others may be a little more reserved, and might need more care and attention than the rest.

The pre-YEP activity, which i initially deemed as unnecessary, has actually taught me to be more sensitive to the needs of people with disabilities, but not in a outwardly discriminating way.

♥♥♥YEP Team♥♥♥

Vincent Journal 1

♥ 11:27 PM

Disability encompasses many areas, some of which includes physical, sensory, intellectual and developmental. More often that not, people tend to discriminate against people with disabilities. They might possess the thought that people with disabilities are weak, vulnerable, pathetic and all sorts of nasty adjectives are used to describe them. The funny thing is, we are all humans. It is common to see mother cats protecting their cubs when a stray dog approaches. It is typical of a tribe leader to protect his tribe from a cluster of wild animals. But it is an irony to see humans hurling insults at their own race. The human population needs to revise their various perspectives when it comes to issues of disability.

For inclusion, I'm definitely advocating it. Despite several disadvantages, it brings an overwhelming amount of advantages to counter the cons. Not only does it elevates people with disabilities to a more equal level, but it also promotes social cohesion and attempts to engage people in deeper understanding of these issues, not just superficial glances at such. It serves as a bridge to link people with disabilities and people without disabilities. With this connection, discriminations and prejudices will then be able to reduce significantly, though gradually.

The clients that we have met are a group of confident, youthful dreamers. They aspire, they hope and they fight hard for their dreams. Knowing the fact that you have a form of impairment definitely destructs you internally, and many people possibly collapse from all the devastating pressure and "humiliation" that others bring upon them. It is harsh, very harsh for them to accept. This group of clients however, they appear to overlook their disabilities and instead strive hard in whatever they are doing. Their fighting spirits might have encountered massive amounts of barricades and obstructions, but they fight back with perseverance and effort.
Their efforts are really impressive. I wonder if they can do that, why do others without disabilities give up so easily, just because they hit a little bump on their life journey?



♥♥♥YEP Team♥♥♥

Cassie Journal 1

♥ 11:27 PM

In general, I feel that there has been an increasing amount of acceptance for people with disabilities. For instance, more areas have been improved to provide basic accessibility; more buses have been converted to wheel-chair friendly buses and more. As for inclusion, more schools have been upgraded to provide wheel-chair friendly facilities. Through the small talks with the clients and their mothers, I also realized that Singapore has been quite diverse in having various organizations for different needs, opening up more opportunities for them than i thought it would be, for them to participate just like any of us.

Hence, I thought that this is a great step done, however, to a certain limit. Why did I say so? There have been many instances when I witnessed people staring real hard at people with disabilities on the bus. I even overheard “TSK” etc as the person requires more time to get up the bus. In my opinion, there should be more done to educate the public on the common prejudice and how to handle them.

_____________________________________________________________

After working with the AWWA clients during the pre-yep, I had gained a better understanding on them. It was an opportunity to be able to serve a client. I observed that he was not eating and hence approached him. It was then that I had found out that he required feeding. Initially, the food was cut too big a piece and I realized that I had difficulty bringing the food to him. Moreover, my hand was shaking. Thus, I had the food cut smaller. But what made me a little guilty was when I was feeding him water. This is so as I could see him choking a little and yet telling me that he is fine. I don’t know how much to tilt the bottle and he was really struggling. It was then when I found out from a client’ mother that it would have been better if there was straw. OMG! It didn’t occur to me that other than ensuring that the activity is not too tedious and is able to include people with physical disabilities to participate, this is also another area that we should be concern about.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Anthony, that despite the struggling that he has to undergo because of my feeding, yet he is always encouraging and thanking me, assuring me that he is alright.

To sum up, I had gained a little more understanding about people with disabilities based on their overall needs. This would definitely help in the near future when planning activities for them. Besides, I see how important a caregiver is to them, as they are the ones who always encourage and care for their children; no matter how tired they will be, they are always smiling.

♥♥♥YEP Team♥♥♥

Joan's Journal 1!

♥ 11:19 PM

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Eelin's Reflection

♥ 11:17 PM

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Sean's post 1

♥ 11:13 PM

In the past, I used to think little about people with disabilities. I took them for granted and did not find it necessary to render them any form of help. Now, after the many interactions with people with disabilities I admit I do feel ashamed of myself. I learned about the many encounters they face in their lifetime, including simple things and routine such as moving around that we often take for granted.

During the pre-trip AWWA training, I interacted with various people with disabilities, and I thought it was a good experience. Looking at the smiles on their faces after the activities does make me feel that we can do so much more for the people with disabilities in Cambodia. I felt very comfortable just interacting with the clients. In addition, during the activity on decorating airplanes I realized that many of the clients have similar dreams and hopes just like us, and it is because of these dreams that keep them going strong in their lives.

Overall, it struck me that what drives us to help these people with disabilities is not due to their physical and intellectual impairments but due to their perserverance, strength and resilience to overcome life’s obstacles as well as their positive outlook on life itself!

♥♥♥YEP Team♥♥♥

Gracia's Journal 1

♥ 10:56 PM

The Pre-YEP activity was one of the first few times that I was working with people with disabilities. Initially, I was afraid of working with them especially since I was one of the group leaders. But at the beginning when we were just interacting with them, I didn’t feel as nervous as I thought I would be! The session got better as time passed. While doing the plane activity, one of the guys was entertaining the rest of the table most of the time. We shared our dreams and resolutions that we wrote on the plane, and I came to realize that we should not look down or think lowly of PwD. All of us have about the same goals and want to achieve about the same things. It told me that PwD have hopes and dreams too, and I am sure that they will fight as hard as we will to chase after our dreams.

I feel that inclusion is very important because only when we are working with PwD do we get to understand them more. Therefore I am really grateful for this pre-YEP activity, because it made me feel better and more confident when going over to Cambodia to work with PwD there.

I think the people in Cambodia are more open to PwD compared to us here in Singapore. It might probably be because the ratio of PwD and people with no disability are higher. PwD would be a more common sight in Cambodia then.

Looking at how much I’ve learnt and experienced so far, I really can’t wait to work with the people in Cambodia, especially the PwD! I am sure that all of us will grow and learn together as one YEP team and that stronger friendships would be built throughout these 2 weeks.

♥♥♥YEP Team♥♥♥

Chun Yan's Journal Reflection 1 ;)

♥ 10:49 PM

Having the opportunities to interact with PWD has provided me with a great platform for learning and understanding about this particular group of people, whom I suppose faces an array of stereotypes and prejudices from others in their daily lives. To be honest, the first time I ever worked with PWD, I was a little apprehensive, and had my own set of beliefs and thinking about them. I’d often thought that they were a really unfortunate group to be down with disabilities, and that they could never be really happy and accepting of their disabilities. However, gradual exposure and interactions with them had proved my thinking wrong, as I realized that PWD are really no different from us, and some had even better outlook in overcoming and living life as compared to the “normal” people.

In my opinion, many people still hold lots of stereotypes and misconceptions about PWD. Whether it is from labeling them as being “useless” or to giving them weird stares on the streets, all these speaks volumes about how non-inclusive the society is (not only in the aspect of education).Of course, one can’t be blame for having such thoughts because most would not have the opportunity to interact and get to know PWD; which is why many can still be done to improve and include the PWD into the society in all aspects – schools, communities, neighbourhoods etc.

Yesterday’s pre-activity with AWWA was a really fruitful and fun one (as with all others). It was nice to see and catch-up with some of the familiar faces, as well as making conversations and giving encouragements to the new ones. I was definitely more hyper and comfortable around them than I was as compared to the very first time, which I thought was a good sign! ;) Additionally, I seriously feel that they are such an inspiration and excellent role model for others to look up to, because of their never-give-in and optimistic attitude towards life. Though handicapped on the outside, but definitely not on the inside! ;)

♥♥♥YEP Team♥♥♥