How's Life For Visually Impaired Children In Mainstream Schools? | In Plain Sight - Part 1/3

[Music] foreign [Music] currently I'm 12 years old and um I'm in Alexandra Primary School yeah during the assembly Madame Tio talked about my disability she talked about the whole team crew and Etc my VI problem is um my left eye which is completely blind the P6 School meet in other class they don't think that I'm a disabled thank you for the reasons why if I am a good understanding what was your surprise [Music] each other [Music] that day when I was in Korea then everyone was a very excited that this channel is coming up and I told everyone that I have this disability thingy yeah [Music] thank you [Music] and my first reaction was very sad then I was there did I do wrong or I shouldn't expose it at first then a lot of people comforting me say just ignored [Music] the teacher saw them then she one of the friends bring her to cool down herself [Music] [Applause] together okay and they are going to be in your classroom blaming you today you know you heard about it yes because they are going to do a story on piran and therefore all of you will be part and parcel of that it is okay so don't be too distracted just be your normal self okay and then just enjoy the sections [Music] okay so are you ready to start our plan last time when I ask you questions you must participate us raise up your hand active participation yes so today we are gonna have fun learning music without body okay what is freedom anybody knows what is treated my name is Liang Li Mei and I'm a form teacher of 2.4 okay let's take a look at this one this page what do you think tell me what do you see I have no Miran for almost two years now when he first started school he was already a jovial and cheerful boy who was well liked by his peers it was easy to get bodies to help him to take part in all activities your own newspapers and all clothing and sell it to him he will follow his own stuff when he first came to our school in primary one he had been taught how to use the desktop magnifier during lessons so that he can learn well in class he did not have any difficulties as he was just like any other students integrating into primary school life foreign body her name is Dia she's sitting next to him I chose her because she's very independent she's a very responsible student who is willing to help me run and she's able to guide him well thank you [Music] um I tried to select the body who is very helpful and independent so that that body can help not only herself but the others too I see the second one on the third one [Music] no are you sure he just play game with you also yes but only subject games maybe he could tell us which teachers um one pizza Madame young very friendly yes you saw her before being his form teacher I make sure that he needed that extra care and guidance to help him build his confidence and to integrate to the school environment [Music] all of your friends is it and all all Singapore the items that that were used in Olden Singapore right yeah very good enjoy thank you foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] distance time to say [Applause] [Music] yes [Music] [Music] Mr Ong I'm currently's disease music teacher I'm also her form teacher last year as well as the assistant near hit last year when she was in P1 reporting goes [Music] today did you say good morning hey everyone sit down I'm sure you have been informing we are visitors here today okay we were still carried out with our lesson expert normal nothing will change okay I understand for my class uh the music room is on the second floor so she has to take the stairs up so uh sometimes her body will hold her hand sometimes I'll just tell do you see the staircase in front thank you okay are we ready for today's lesson the melon is at the back of the chair okay [Music] and fine foreign they do offer help without her asking because the Z is very shy so the kids were offered their help so we we try to be aware that she is around but we don't treat her differently but we are aware that she needs help in certain things simply because she cannot see as well you can make sure that the number six with the thought is facing you careful Dental when we first met her before she enrolled into P1 we actually arranged for a special meeting with her and her parents to understand uh what are the needs that she she would require the support that she would require and also to also give her a sense of how the school is like how her classroom would look like and telling her some of the things to expect and of course we also try to see how best we can place her in the class given the advice from the scn officer as well as from her parents experience in her preschool [Music] let's go back down from one dot backwards okay [Music] okay now everyone all right [Applause] [Music] [Music] my name is Usman 's father I'm an engineer Telecom engineer working as a telecom field engineer for the cloud service provider in Singapore threshold [Music] [Applause] slowly one by one he's very friendly friendly person yeah so he's always like whenever wherever he goes he tried to he will talk to people and make friends yeah in his age group but when if it is above the age group maybe he will hesitate but in his age group with the kids and all he will very easily Mingle very nice initially his vision is not it's not good so first initially the diagnosis was uh long for long-sighted first wind so the treatment was based on that so gradually so we see that it doesn't help it does he doesn't see properly so there is something else so so from the in the detail track uh so we found out that he has uh so he has some more issues with the eyes the distance vision is a problem for him even the close vision is is not so good so he actually enjoys it when he do the gymnastics is a closed indoor area and with lot of color contrast and he do the repeated things every every week and first he struggled but after that once you get the coordination once uh he knows how to perform then he do better he he does well in the gym yeah he's progressing and that helps him a lot in in all his physical coordination 10. I'm not sure enough time later you try first go up the main goal is to grow him as a confident to give him lot of confidence so I can see a lot of uh he is he's getting a lot of confidence uh confident his confidence level is going up and uh he he's getting there so he's doing good in studies so with the sports he has he even though he cannot do um due to full full ability full extent he's doing at his best what is what he can do actually I'm trying to support as much as possible and to help him to to do to do all this yeah because gymnastics is an individual sport so it requires a lot of awareness and so they need a lot of they need to require a lot of attention and processing which is quite beneficial for them they can apply in their school school life also this snake keeps higher okay well yeah currently now he has a bit of self-doubt so at times you say that do you think I can do it but I think um with motivation uh like me and uh his main coach we tell him that he can do it then she managed to do it right remember just now you know you say you cannot do handstand just now you say you cannot do handstand night then can you do yes or no yes yeah when you do the handstand do you like fall down sometimes no if you look at your hands it won't fall down oh so you're pretty good at it not good not too good you have to try handstand or not are you okay um you can do it your hands must be strong okay I want to try again try again ah you can do it you can do it go one this one must be strong cannot bend don't bend your elbows one two three okay ready and stay now three okay look at your hands good job good job you can do or not okay good job high five finish already two hands high five yes okay everybody say bye bye Missy you want a plus plus [Music] I'm from Alexandria primary school and I'm the year ahead for upper primary levels so essentially what a year hit does is that we do a checking with the children on their well-being we do have one-to-one interactions with our students from time to time I will have conversations with London as my role as your head and I knew Sean earned when he first came into our school as a primary one student I knew about his condition before he came to school so we were quite aware of his visual impairment so when I first saw him on the first day of school I actually just thought that he was just like a regular boy just like everyone else um he didn't look different I was Miss spectacled boy but he looks just as cute as every P1 child could be and yeah so he was very optimistic and he's pretty much a very happy-go-lucky boy yeah [Music] going to primary one of course is exciting it's exciting to meet new friends and how does this school looks like you know looks very interesting it's very unique and it's quite new so of course not bad oh like the other schools nearby yeah [Music] when I was a primary one I did not tell my friend that I have a VI problem mostly I was focusing on my studies mostly focusing on my books and so and so forth I remember this incident two years back during Foundation math lesson and this guy uh one of the classmates in Foundation math at that time he peace me and he said that wow you're so tall uh you blind Ice La every day keep on teasing me I felt very sad everyone telling me ignore him ignoring him even that's just nothing but it was crazy and I was very sad um mixed emotions very sad and very angry and I keep on have to explain to me I'm explained to him I have this condition but he still cannot accept this uh my condition about it [Music] [Music] okay [Music] foreign teacher actually to see has been very independent of course we try to give her some support as best as we could but she herself has also been trying her best to be very independent like when she first come we had a buddy to help her move around the canteen during recess time to help her move from place to place we had another body to help her move around in the classroom and then of course during recess time the first few weeks we went downstairs to take a look at her during recess time and we felt that most of the time she was adapting very well to life in school and she was also moving around very well slowly gaining confidence so slowly slowly we thought that we of course the bodies are still there but um we were not so worried anymore I'm Rachel I'm like deceased mother I am a working mom doing full-time office work and this is my youngest child she has a cone wrought this trophy which essentially means that she has poor vision she is also like sensitive and unable to see colors well [Music] so we're getting to see his vision challenges we actually uh only found out about tape and she was a year old as parents you tend to worry about your children no matter how old they are especially when you know that there'll be challenges throughout her life so when we came to know about this eye condition I'll definitely foreign right I think it's very hard to uh get over the news because she's still so young so life will be very hard for her [Music] thank you [Music] I think generally children at their age are really nice actually on her first day when I was there after moving around for a while there's one class friend who started holding her hand and it was really really heartening to see that yeah so I think that's also one of the reason why I think the school teachers put in place this body system so so generally [Music] the children are helpful I think they care for each other which is really nice and and it's something that you should probably nurture start nurturing at a young age though yeah some of your friends would hold your hand and help you walk around okay yeah which of your friends will do that [Music] Isabel where would they help you walk around all the stairs how about when you change classes I don't know [Applause] [Music] [Applause] go find someone else [Applause] [Music] [Applause] come here anyone wants my house pick one up so easy so why it's just like this guys [Music] you take one stone then wipers let's try doing the air okay I really forget [Music] the one who and the basketball court oh yeah yeah what was that [Music] um I don't even know what's that we saw you were like holding it and then you got to kick it like a ball yeah but I did get think about this was the ball but then the ball was dangerous hit someone oh yeah you might hit someone right yeah then one of my friends accidentally he used them then hit me oh no I I were you okay yeah and then I was like who took this ball here I think you want to see to see slowly getting confidence like when she's able to tell me very confidently that okay she can walk to the general office by herself because at the beginning of this year there was a few days when the buddy who was supposed to bring her to the Geo after school every day is not in school so I did ask her uni and me to help you find another people to bring you to the general office she said no I can go there myself so I think there's this little moments whereby I'm very glad to hear that coming from her I think these are the moments that I'm happy to see [Applause] [Music] I came to Singapore in 2008 I live in Singapore for past 15 years when I come here alone first and then next year I got married and bring my family here for the first daughter my wife went to India to give birth but my second and third mihran and Miha they born here in Singapore [Music] you want to go they'll be good very excited uh yes Yes actually we are very excited to have a human work in my family especially is very happy to have a another sister I think he's not positive [Music] yeah [Music] see you [Music] this is drinking the milk I'll be right back when I tell you when I'm ready okay okay [Music] actually he was very excited he was waiting for the for the day to welcome the sister actually even the day before we bring the my daughter minha he brought some origami paper and he wanted to decorate a small like a like a small hot design yeah maybe you'd have noticed it was stuck here when on the first day foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] teacher teacher did you like playing with her name and [Music] oh [Music] my God [Music] my name is Winnie I'm an insurance Mommy in three years old she still couldn't you know call Mama you still haven't you know speaking with this first one so aspiring we are very worried so um we brought him to see doctor and Doctor refer us through speech therapy he also has very big Immortal skill because he tends to fall down easily and the doctor referred to another therapy business which is occupational therapy as well as physiotherapy so he had been to many types of therapies during his torturous years and [Music] I really didn't notice he has visual impairment because he's like seems like quite normal and only my sister alert me that he sees Sean's like has a squid eyes on his left eye so then she advised me to go to see doctor so I brought students to alcoholic clinic and initially for the first visit the doctor didn't notice any abnormal or is it nothing wrong it's quite common and then my sister also insisted for me to bring him for the second time because he said it must if if you have sweet eyes then you can correct it during the very young age so I brought him again for the second visit to the Polyclinic and I insisted that I want a detailed chat and ask them to refer me to Eye Center at KK kitchen at the eye center they really have a detailed check actually we went for the two times MRI for the first time they couldn't see anything wrong and for the second time they focused on the eyeball and then only that they noticed that the nerve seems very pale and it seems that the the eyes has no function at all and then it's it was confirmed that no he has totally no vision on the left eyes no I actually I couldn't accept because I don't understand why he has to go to so many um things like since birth has to hospitalize and then he has to go through so many therapies and now the ice problem for um I was like okay I just couldn't accept [Music] good evening [Music] when I was P1 until the B3 and of course the obvious is that my left eye was moving out and it's not very close so it's moving out and it's very early and if you take picture of me it's very ugly it's very uh it's so disgusting looking that I I don't even want to see uh until mid 2019 I told my mom mom my friends keep on teasing me on about my looking I I wanted to do a surgery that close up so the doctor says sure so we do a surgery yeah sometimes now when he came back and shared with me that you know friends bullied him and then they commented that he has a weird eyes with looking eyes of him yeah he'll feel very sad and sometimes when he cried like he just tried to rub his left eye it seems like he tried to rock until the ice can can see I mean can visual you know how how how sad you know he fell if if currently if I I was B6 I did not do uh the surgery of course it would be look so ugly currently so I did told my mom trick her is that I want to do a surgery of course to make it beautiful on me and uh uh to look like a normal human instead of a very disgusting thing yeah okay in preschool and he vented and after that um the teacher quickly sent him to kkhane um of it we diagnosed that he has epilepsy so it's called Epson Jesus so we have to take daily medicine so it life is was very challenging because you know he didn't want to take the medicine at all so so the doctor says you need to take it so stressful because when Sean see the medicine he will push away he was beat up so sometimes I have to wake up like three four A.M so to put the medicine inside the milk just to try to feed him but when he woke up he saw the pink color and the Milton thing because of the medicine he just threw him away so it was challenging during that time [Music] thank you [Music] because he always complained that you know why his cousin or like you don't have physical ensure why he has to take medicine why he's only have one vision and while the other people are like that normal no I usually I will say that no if compared to others you are better right compared to others who have totally blind with no vision at all with no sickness so yeah feel proud of himself you still can you know yeah try to console him like compare to others he's better and he's more fortunate yeah I spent a lot of time because I have to bring it to therapy I bring it to doctors so most of the time I focus on him um that's why his brother get jealous and and like to bully and sometimes the physical abuse him it's okay it's okay I'll share to everybody there's a proof [Music] every day everyday [Music] because his privacy is unfair he he'll need a two years older than him but actually he's like baby and I put so much love care towards it but not to his brother I expect the brother can do listen mama so only recently because of the coffee and I spend more time with him and only that time no he really pulled out how he felt just during for the past 10 years how he fell and yeah I agree that I was in the wrong because I didn't spend much time with him and so this time I try to spend time with him so that to balance up or else you get um the emotional damage um [Music] um [Laughter] it's clear around our house environmentally changed you know really no bring us like Joy fun loving and caring and you're very glad to have loving every harmonious very uh careful I care for others and As Time passed we have to cherish him before he grow oath and of course you have to cherish our lifestyle please [Music] [Music]

Channel: CNA Insider

Views: 42,369

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Id: RM995kJ7EAw

Length: 46min 24sec (2784 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 17 2023