The society decided to adopt the non-profit Beautiful Gate Foundation for the Disabled as an organisation to help and support.
Amy helping Beautiful Gate resident Siew Yin who suffers from ‘spina bifida’. – AZLINA ABDULLAH / The StarTwice a year, she would take groups of students to visit the residents and help out in their charity efforts by selling old books in the SS2 market, or participate in their camps during the semester break.
“It used to be a duty as I was voted into the post,” muses Amy. “These days, I visit them whenever I'm free, I hang out with them when they call me out to go yum cha (get a drink).”
She mostly helps out at the Beautiful Gate Career Development Centre for the Disabled, where residents undergo training such as computer and English courses and are encouraged to find jobs and be independent.
A student volunteer for a year now, she has heard many stories from her disabled friends.
“I met one woman who was able-bodied until she was in her early 20s,” she recalls. “When she became pregnant, the doctor told her that she had a genetic problem and had to either abort the baby or have something go very wrong with her nerves.
“She chose to give birth to the baby.
“The baby is fine but she can't walk now and has to use a wheelchair.”
It is stories like these that keep her motivated and change her outlook on life.
“They are so energetic and determined to live,” she says in earnest. “I used to get depressed over exam results but now, I realise that there is more to life, a purpose in living.”
Being around the disabled has taught her many things. For instance, she never knew how difficult it was to manoeuvre a wheelchair till she had to participate in a game involving wheelchairs in a Be An Angel camp, designed to engage the disabled with the able-bodied and to teach the latter how to assist the former.
“It was tough for me. My hands were in pain,” says Amy. “But I now understand how they feel.”
Being able-bodied, Amy, 23, admits it is sometimes easy to take things for granted; she has become so familiar with the Beautiful Gate residents that she treats them like her able-bodied friends.
“I learnt that I should be sensitive with my words,” she explains. “I once tried to put a pair of socks onto my friend's feet and I said: 'Why don't you straighten your legs so it would be easier for me to do this?'
“She immediately scolded her legs, saying: 'Yeah, come on! Why don't you straighten?'
Student volunteers find out how difficult it is to manoeuvre a wheelchair at the ‘Be an Angel’ camp.“I realised how rude I had been and felt horrible after that.”
At the end of the day, Amy realises that what most disabled people want is genuine friendship.
“Being a volunteer is not so much about helping them but just being their friend.”
She has now become like family to the Beautiful Gate residents, chatting casually and being teased mercilessly by the office staff.
“Amy comes and disturbs us!” jokes the centre's staff member Chong Kar Yee, herself a cerebral palsy sufferer. “But people like her are rare. She can bond well with people of different ages and gender.”
Unfortunately, Amy still finds that many are not interested in doing what she does and some even think that Beautiful Gate, which is dependant mostly on public donations, is rich.
“At a flea market where I was holding out donation boxes, people told me that everyone gave to Beautiful Gate, so they should have lots of money,” she says.
The Centre's coordinator Ng Chung Chiat, who has worked there for eight years, believes that awareness about disability issues in general is poor.
“We write to schools and colleges twice a year proposing talks or student visits to create awareness,” he says. “Only about five schools in the Klang Valley respond in a year.”
Source : http://thestar.com.my/education/story.asp?file=/2007/6/24/education/18086667
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