Spread their Wings Chase their Dreams
Contributor: Dr Larry Ng [Counselling Service, SDS]
Currently, there are around 130 students with Special Education Needs (SEN) at CityU. The University cares about their needs and is dedicated to helping them develop their potentials and prepare for their future career. Miss LAM Sio Fan 2021 Graduate (Bachelor of Linguistics and Translation) When Sio Fan was two to three years old, her retina was removed because of retinoblastoma, and she then became a young girl with visual impairment. After completing an associate degree programme in 2018, Sio-Fan was admitted to an undergraduate programme in linguistics and translation at CityU. To enhance her learning experiences, the SEN Officer from Counselling Service notified relevant supporting departments about her special needs before the academic year started. The academic staff sent their PowerPoint slides and examination papers in advance to the Hong Kong Society for the Blind for Braille conversion to support Sio Fan’s daily lectures and examinations. At CityU, Sio Fan felt very blessed to have met many enthusiastic fellow students who accompanied her to classrooms and restaurants. They joined various learning activities together and enjoyed lots of happy moments. In 2019/20, Sio Fan changed her major to Linguistics. The new programme required her to compile codes and find bugs in computer coding. Locating bugs in a long list of codes was a rather great challenge to a person with visual impairment. The academic staff at her department had tried different methods to help her learn coding. Eventually, her classmates invented an innovative way by using glue to draw the symbols on paper. When the glue dried, raised braille-like symbols were then produced. Her classmates could explain those symbols to her accordingly when she touched them. Sio Fan’s learning experiences at CityU has enhanced her confidence in facing the challenges posed to a person with visual impairment while studying linguistics. She has decided to continue to pursue her dream by applying for a master’s degree programme to enrich her life and broaden her horizons and interests. Sio Fan’s university life at CityU!
Miss Agnes LAI 2020 Graduate (Bachelor of Arts in Asian and International Studies) Agnes was an SEN student with severe hearing impairment. She needs to wear hearing aids and looks at others’ lip movements to understand what they are saying. During her study at CityU, with the assistance of the SEN Officer from Counselling Service and the Career and Employability Consultant from the Career and Leadership Centre, Agnes sharpened her knowledge on resume writing and interview skills. This young lady was then recommended to join different summer internship programmes provided by the Hong Kong Government, public service companies such as Mass Transit Railway, and other social enterprises. Through the collaboration between CityU and CareER, a charity specialised in career development for SEN students, Agnes joined a social enterprise called “RunOurCity” as a marketing intern to promote events via social media platforms in summer 2019. Her supervisor praised, “Agnes is prudent and capable of completing all assigned tasks systematically and precisely.” After having this internship experience, Agnes would like to develop her career in marketing, especially in social enterprises. Agnes’s university life at CityU!
Upon her graduation, Agnes is working as a Project Officer at Student Development Services. Her cheerfulness and confidence impress her colleagues. Apart from her personality, Agnes’s positive work attitude and graphic design skills are also very remarkable. Below are some of the posters designed by Agnes:
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