~May Your Light Shine :D~

Saturday, October 01, 2005

I intend to send the letter below to the Straits Times forum page. Those with comments/suggestions, please post them on my tagboard. Thanks and God Bless!

Today is the 1st of October, more fondly known as Children’s Day. It is a day to remember the children in our midst, who represent our future, our hope. Parents, or parents-to-be, worldwide, all share the same basic dream for their children and that is for them to be healthy and happy. No responsible parent would wish pain and suffering on their child. Unfortunately, not everyone has a fair chance.

It has been years since I last celebrated Children’s Day, complete with a school holiday, and I barely remember what happened then. However, yesterday as I spent the day of celebration at Cerebral Palsy Centre, I was forced to realize how different I am from the students there.

In lieu of the celebrations, floats, game stalls, and amusement park rides were set up round the school. The children were each given a large goodie pack as well as a jacket from MOE. This resulted in a comment by one of the volunteers, who was there on a one time basis, that these children were so ‘lucky’. Although it is true that those of us who attend mainstream schools never had such fanfare on Children’s Day, let us not forget that the students of this school are special. With half of the student population bound to a wheelchair for the rest of their life, they will probably never get a chance to visit a real amusement park and sit on a rollercoaster. Unlike normal children, these children are not able to play on a playground without an adult constantly right by their side. Considering these and more, are they really ‘lucky’? Although they are compensated with a special curriculum and rooms that cost more than a few normal classrooms to stimulate them, of all that they are deprived of on a daily basis, is a day in which they are given more attention than others, too much to ask?

A volunteer also said that if they were to see these special children on the streets, they would feel uncomfortable around them, and told the teacher that they should educate the public, so as to raise awareness. Even though special education teachers should let others understand their students better, I believe that the onus should be on us, the public, to make an effort to know more about the less fortunate and not simply donate money during charity shows.

What was really preposterous was the message the principal had to read to the school at the start of the celebrations. The message, which I presumed was written for all the primary schools in Singapore by some MP/secretary, mentioned issues like how proud he/she is over the achievements of the children, namely more gold, silver and bronze medals being given out at the Singapore Youth Festival (SYF), as well as the increased involvement in CCA, etc. If I was in a mainstream school, I would have been pleased, however as I glanced over at my charges, all of whom are non-verbal, and at the age of 15-18, still have to be fed and cleaned like an infant, I wonder at the ludicrousness of it all. These children probably do not understand simple mathematical equations such as 1 + 1 = 2, and maybe never will. The idea of SYF is also as foreign as the alphabets S, Y, F, to them. I seriously would like to know how the principal felt as she read out the ‘important’ message, knowing full well, nothing in that message applies to her students. What about the parents who attended the celebrations? How do they feel about being reminded about the things normal children can do but their own child cannot even dream about?

It is sad that on such a happy occasion, it is marred by the insensitivity of some. Although it is much more convenient to write a message addressed to all children, I believe that writing a separate message for all these special children or another paragraph just for them is the least one can do. Placed in the shoes of the children in all the special schools and their parents, the comfort from knowing others acknowledge their effort and difficulty in living life to the best of their abilities, will definitely make their journey less arduous.

Lydea blogged at 5:19 PM

May your light shine...
in the darkness...