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Monday July 20, 2009

Let us bring out the humanity in us

Monday Starters - By Soo Ewe Jin


It’s about time we did away with prejudice and ignorance

CHAI Wei Xiong was one of the country’s top scorers for special students in the STPM 2008 examinations.

He has a dream to get a degree in special education and hopes to teach deaf and mute children. He is deaf and mute himself.

Despite scoring 3As and 1B, Wei Xiong was not able to get a place in any of the local universities.

His family went through various channels, including political ones, to get him a place, but without success.

Someone brought his plight to the attention of The Star which published the story on July 13. The following day, he got an offer from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia to study at the Faculty of Social Sciences and was enrolled immediately.

Sounds familiar?

Every year, when the top students for both the SPM and STPM examinations are revealed, there is a special category for students with disabilities.

Although they do not get as much publicity as their “able-bodied” counterparts, their stories are always very heart-warming.

They are the ones who persevere despite the odds. They too have their dreams of forging ahead.

Sadly, there are many “normal” people in a position to make their dreams come true who do not respond accordingly.

I would not be judgmental and say they do not care. Rather, there appears to be a lack of understanding of what “special needs” are all about.

When a special-needs student fills in the application form, he/she has to tick a box to indicate that he/she is Orang Kurang Upaya.

By right, this should alert the bureaucrats to the fact that these people are to be given special priority, not to be set aside.

Reading about Wei Xiong in The Star on July 13, I am reminded of the top disabled SPM student in 2006 whose application for a PSD scholarship was originally rejected because the officer thought that it would not be possible for a student in a wheelchair to go overseas to study if the scholarship was granted.

I recall how this officer, after the issue was sorted out, came to Albert Wong’s house to personally hand him the letter and was given an instant education as to the real potential of this student.

He was very touched and promised that in future, he would ensure that such applicants are not prejudged.

Albert, whose dream is to be a lawyer for the disabled, refused help from various parties because he wanted the system to work for the benefit of future applicants in similar situations.

Of course, in the government service, no position is permanent and one cannot be sure if this officer, who has promised to enlighten his whole department about the special-needs issue, is still there.

When we look at Wei Xiong’s case, we also see similarities. Those who rejected his university application may wonder how a deaf and mute individual would be able to handle himself in university and may have taken the easy way to reject him.

Prejudice and ignorance, sad to say, still prevail in our society today.

In The Sunday Star on July 12, we read a heart-warming tribute paid by the deputy Attorney-General of Sarawak, Francis Johen, who was crippled by a spinal cord infection at the age of 16.

He spoke of how fellow law student Philip Koh fetched him from his hostel to their classes, and back again, for the four years of study.

Someone very close to me volunteered as a reader to the blind in her university days. She would go to meet a student from another faculty and read his lecture notes into a tape recorder, after which he would transcribe into braille.

These are the ordinary stories of people being sensitive to the needs of those around them, and who are willing to lend a hand.

I am sure Wei Xiong will have no shortage of such helpers when he gets into university.

It is time such sensitivity permeates every segment of our society, Corporate Malaysia included.

Otherwise, we will forever be blind, deaf, and dumb, because we cannot see, we cannot hear and we cannot speak out for those who truly need us.

● Deputy executive editor Soo Ewe Jin believes educating the disabled to the highest level will not mean much if companies still turn a blind eye to these people. Companies should go beyond charity and start looking at how the disabled can be part of their payroll.

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