Barely one week into the New Year, the disability movement has lost a tireless worker. Diana Khoo, former Regional Training Officer of Cheshire Home Far East Region, passed away yesterday evening. I have known her for as long as I have spinal cord injury. She was working with my physiotherapist on some rehabilitation projects in the late-eighties and I was the subject of one of those projects.
Diana is a well-known figure among the disabled persons’ community in Penang. After her stint with Cheshire Home, she carried on working independently in disability-related projects, among them, providing day care to disabled persons. At the same time, she was also planning to work with hospitals in providing resources for patients with disabilities.
I had the opportunity to meet her again in April last year to discuss on how we could work together on Independent Living projects that I was initiating in Penang. We had agreed to meet up again to explore further the possibilities as I had to come to Kuala Lumpur that time and she was about to fly off to England too. Sadly, I will never have the privilege of working with her again. Rest in peace my dear friend.
