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A People-Centric Approach to Charity | ZaiYang Guo | TEDxYouth@SingaporePolytechnic


hi everyone so I have to say first of
all the campus is so huge it to me all
well haven’t know what you came here to
find this place
I still have the gold like up and down
here and absolutely and super owners
right for people in my Chevy 3 yeah okay
so but I also observed something that’s
per colony there all the corridors
access accessible to persons on
wheelchairs so let us imagine this
scenario where you’re walking in a
campus and you see a person with
intellectual disability who is ruling on
wheelchair and is a common apparent
nurse now here’s a question would you
rather approach and speak to the person
or speak to the nurse for many of us I
think the answer would be the nurse and
everything no because we’re rude people
but rather depth we feel is somehow
inappropriate or good to directly
address people with disabilities it may
also be because we feel that we must
communicate via another person because
people with disabilities cannot
understand our expressions however in
reality it is quite the opposite and
this is the typical example of our
misconceptions regarding disability
there’s simply too many times where just
when were just trying to express our
empathy and provide talk to those people
but what we might know we’re actually
realized is that sometimes occurs a
hostility and the reason simple people
with disabilities are also autonomous
individuals like all of us with the same
level of self esteem as we all do and
they also wish to live their lives as
independently as possible to chase their
dreams as far as possible and if we
treat them with excessive empathy help
and care unnecessary and excessive care
they might feel that we’re not
respecting them all we’re not regarding
them as
but please don’t get me wrong there’s
nothing in exercising sensitivity when
we interrupt people with disabilities
but it issue lies in a way we approach
it so as many of you pass today in this
auditorium I was once a singers to a
student who involve myself in many
community service projects I do believe
that during this communist service such
as raising funds for charity
organizations and visiting people with
special needs who really change the
lives of the people who wanted to help
and it’s not wrong indeed to income this
service can truly bring a lot benefit to
the people in need but we must also
realize that it is not always that
helpful and sometimes it can hurt I
didn’t realize it until about one year
ago when my friends was sharing about
their volunteering experience well my
friends
she’s a long-term volunteer and a local
institution they care for people with
intellectual disabilities and she told
me that the student volunteers liked her
actually struggle in communicating with
the kids because we must know that
people with intellectual disabilities
sometimes cannot follow social
conventions as we do and some of them
also struggles in expressing their
feelings bulleting and their ideas so as
a student who has never gone and undergo
any training in how to take care of such
people she told me this from the facial
expressions of this case I can tell that
they’re not really happy when they’re
with us and I think that this is
definitely not a isolated case there are
simply too many times well when we are
just too eager to help people without
noticing them but we might actually
doing it the wrong way so indeed
there’s nothing wrong in healthy and the
intention is good but there’s one
question one simple crucial you get
severely overlooked question that could
truly transform the way we look at her
what do our beneficiaries really need
from us so since that day I’ve been
reflecting on the community service I’ve
had further participated and I realized
that I might have more have also made
the same mistake what I’m always willing
to house I didn’t actually know this
before well I didn’t quite understand
who they are what their personalities
were like and most importantly what I
really need from us so but I also equal
it goes without saying that I do not
wish my service to hurt anyone
so this thinking concepts is actually
the origin and inspiration for projects
sentences produce synapses it says do
the initial project charity project by
me I’m a friend that aims to help people
with services which is a form of
physical disability and we collaborate
with cerebral palsy Alliance sample
which is also known as sea bass
so at first we just like many student
initiative projects we go on the streets
and sell merchandise to respond for sea
bass and we also do some form of online
advocacy to raise awareness for cerebral
palsy but after the top with my friends
I actually started to ask this question
to myself what do they really need so to
find answer we pay a visit to the sea
bass campus and we receive a
surprisement so this all these beautiful
paintings are actually done by the
artist reserve apostate and they are
just like me they are like 18 to 20
years old so I feel that it’s really
their presence that did the presence of
these paintings are not known to a lot
of people and they I wanna stay
school gallery so that’s why we help an
artist our last July 2 champion idea
that people with cervical City can be
also as talented in many ways as we all
do
so we displayed these pendants near a
booth near all children also we invite
the public to collaborate with our
circle positive artists only join in
dear dad that we want to provide space
for them to interact with this artist
and to hopefully transform the way they
look at people with cerebral palsy
people with disabilities and how they
interact with them and for purchased
illnesses that’s not all
all grandpa finally actually came in
early August last year as a attempt to
alter the sterotypical image people may
have regarding several palsy and say
disability in general with their over
for month to help the students achieve
something that many of us even their
noticeable peer model emotional stage so
to do this we invited designers from San
Juan Cole to tailor special costumes for
these models from CIPA school has also
has cerebral palsy to different extent
and instead of covering up the physical
differences this designs I should aim to
accommodate them and to be fair for
students like us organising such an
event like fashion show is not very easy
but this is a message that we all want
to share to all regardless of our
differences we are all the same
regardless of our physical conditions at
the night of that event we actually
invited models from now Academy of Fine
Arts to walk on the same stage as all
those people all those students we serve
locally as a representation of of our
so this is a picture yeah and it has
been six months since the fashion show
but I believe that those students will
still remember that kind of feeling of
joy and excitement when you’re on stage
and for audience of that fashion show I
hope that the simple yet powerful
message of equality can truly change the
way they look at disability and how they
interact with people with disabilities
and so I want to move back to the
scenario that I started so I actually
been talking to many of my friends and
strangers also cause beloved ones out of
people with disabilities and this is the
message I got from them if there’s one
thing only one thing the people with
disabilities one from us it is no money
it is not pity it is not about
compassion rather it is the sense of
respect and they want us to recognize
them as active members of society like
we all do so this actually gave me
inspiration in advocating for a
concession in disability which is the
set of principles that tells people how
to interact and communicate with people
with disabilities in the most
appropriate and respectful manner
so and this dissipated I take I feel
that it is especially helpful in
communities and societies when they are
prevalent prejudice and misconceptions
regarding disability and promoting
better understanding of this concept is
actually another of my initiative in
China named Timmy Prince where we
promote deeper understanding and teach
people help people to learn how to
exercise this concepts when they treat
people with disabilities and there’s
some central message that I want to
share with all of you always goes always
go back to the original question what do
all beneficiaries really need from us so
to get to know them see them as equals
put yourself in their shoes and
hopefully do something that could truly
transform their lives and if we can all
approach charity it’s an in certain
people centric manner I believe that our
society will truly be an inclusive one
that provides of equal opportunities to
her and I hope we all remember that it
is the respect and you could treatment
there really encourages those people
with disabilities to live their lives and
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