Tomorrow, I will be lunching with Eric Chen - a local celebrity, in the autism community, that is :)
Thanks to a fellow blogger, I recently visited Eric's website and was able to get in touch with him. A Singaporean in his mid-20s, Eric was diagnosed with autism in 2001.
After reading his story on his site, it seems like he faced many challenges and much loneliness growing up with autism, but has gained understanding and found peace through education and spiritual means. I'm really looking forward to meeting him and hearing first-hand about his experiences living with autism in Singapore.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
look at you, diving right into the singaporean autism scene - they are lucky to have such a passionate young lady wanting to help out. xx
ReplyDeleteOh, excellent.
ReplyDeleteSo glad you are meeting Eric Chen.
Agree with Peace, Love, Food about 'diving into the scene'.
Very frequently, Chen is giving talks (and doing lots of things, as well as working fulltime), so it's good he took time out of his busy schedule!
These introductions are so very important, and Eric and you might meet some others. And share some common passions.
Would love to talk a little bit more about Pathlight, mostly what I had found on the website. Especially before you go there next week, then you might have something to talk to the staff and students about. (Also it helps if it's a special event or an ordinary day).
ReplyDeleteOne particularly interesting exercise that the teachers have done is called Overheard at Pathlight, which contains many of the remarks of the students. It is a mix between Learning, Laughing and Loving with Autism (edited by Gilpin, Future Horizons) and Metaquotes (on the Web, especially LiveJournal).
I also saw some of the design profiles of the students for all four terms of the year. For example, 2007 was the Year of the Ox, so a student designed something special. There is much training in InDesign and Photoshop, as well as in Flash.
The students have written journals and other writings, including about their ideal schools and also about tap water, which is a controversial issue in Singapore. There is a lot of desalination and recycling, as Singapore is an island.
Adelaide, what great websites! I especially love "Overheard at Pathlight". Having a sense of humor is so important when working with special populations. Thank you very much for sharing.
ReplyDeleteAnd once again, thank you for telling me about Eric Chen. I had a wonderful lunch with him yesterday!
Really looking forward to my visit to Pathlight. Please let me know if you have any questions that you'd like me to ask on your behalf :)