28th Anniversary Of My Spinal Cord Injury

Every year this day, I spend some quite time reflecting. I no longer think so much about how my life could have turned out had I not made that fateful dive into the pool. I could have become an engineer like what my father wanted me to be to take after him. I could have become a politician. I could have turned to crime. I could be very dead by now. I will never know. That is not important any more. I cannot turn back the clock and change that any way.

Instead, I reflect on what I have done so far with what I have and what I can be. Life is too short to be wondering about what could have been. Searching for a purpose in life was difficult in the beginning. It took a lot of hits and misses for me to discover what I wanted to do and one that I could do well in. Blogging was the first step. Then I had the fortuity to make friends with people who nudged me in the right direction. Kuan Aw and Christine deserves all the credit for being the wind that filled my sails when I first set out from the harbour.

Dr. Kenji Kuno of the Japan International Agency (JICA) gave me every opportunity available in his collaborative projects with the Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat since 2005 to learn about Independent Living Programme (ILP) and Disability Equality Training (DET). My perspective on disability and rights of disabled people are shaped by the philosophies and principles propounded in these courses. I am now a senior trainer for DET and resource person on ILP because he gave me many opportunities to learn and put them into practice.

Wuan is instrumental in encouraging and supporting my work in disability advocacy. Without her, I would not be able to do so much. I may be independent but I still need assistance with my activities of daily living. Wuan helps me with that and that makes it convenient for me when I am out and about. Even at home, my life is easier because she makes sure that my needs are well looked after before she goes to work and after. She is always there for me. Indeed, she has been my pillar of strength since the beginning of our relationship.

On this anniversary, I want to celebrate these wonderful people who have come into my life and made a difference in so many ways. I am who I have become today because they have been generous with their kindness. They have proven that disabled people, given the opportunity and support, can achieve much more than we are made to believe. I am that irrefutable proof.

The road ahead may still be long but because of the foundation that they have helped me build, I am now doing work that is not only personally fulfilling but one that has the potential to change society for the better. To them, I want to say a big thank you from the bottom of my heart. My life is all the better because of you.

A Fine Final Lap

My year is going to end with a bang. I have committed to two workshops and a speaking engagement, one for each month of this last quarter. A couple more workshops are still under discussion. These will keep me busy and conclude just in time for me to wrap up what will become a rather fruitful year.

I like to conduct Disability Equality Training (DET) workshops although I dread the preparatory work beforehand. I would usually spend one week or more putting together the different modules depending on the participants’ level of understanding of disability matters and the goals the organisers want to achieve.

That is just for a one-day workshop. A two- or three-day workshop will take even more disproportionately longer time to prepare. This is because of the need to ensure that the contents of subsequent modules are built upon the knowledge of previous ones.

I have digressed. What I wanted to blog about is that I am happy at how the year is panning out. It is going to be an exhausting last lap but I relish the opportunity to be able to facilitate to more people a deeper understanding on the causes of disability and how society can make simple changes to enable disabled people.

TENA Malaysia Rediscover Dreams Video

This video is about my work as a senior trainer on Disability Equality Training (DET) and my life story. Thank you to TENA Malaysia for the opportunity to promote DET to its staff and supporters.

Thank you, too, to the participants for their effort during the group exercises, action plan making and presentations. I am glad that I was able to facilitate you all into understanding disability better and the ways we can make society more inclusive of disabled people.

Special appreciation must go to the team from Lucideas for their unwavering support throughout this campaign, especially to Beatrice, Wendy, Benji and Gadiy; and to the video and sound crew for making me feel like a star with all the cameras and bright lights. This is an experience that will be hard to forget.