With my parents' constant absence for work, I was practically raised by the cliché morals and themes in cartoons on television. Even at school, they enforced the same set of overly optimistic morals and virtues that eventually became instincts to me. For most students, these virtues were just another component to their curriculum, but as a gullible 5-year-old that listened to every word any adult said, I took all the advice in becoming the compassionate, kind and open minded person the school wanted us to be. Before I knew it I developed a very strong sense of empathy and was willing to help everyone with everything. I enjoyed doing miniscale community service like teaching kids painting, farming, and food kitchens. It was fun and exciting for me to meet new people and talk to them while helping out. All these service activities that I have done were always regarding communities that I was not a part of. For The Youth Resilience Foundation I want to help a community that I am a part of, I want to help people like me who have gone through similar experiences.
Project Description
From having ADHD, Dyslexia and Tourettes in an educational environment, I learnt the difficulties of being a student trying to navigate a proper lifestyle at school and home. In my school career I have experienced a great deal of bias and mistreatment from teachers because of my disabilities. I feel very fortunate to have received the help I needed from an educational psychologist and to be privileged enough to go study abroad, but not every student suffering with these circumstances like mine worse or better can afford to do the same. I wish for The Youth Resilience Foundation to help empower students with disabilities and teach not only them but the people around them that their disabilities are not and should not refrain them from achieving what they want.
The Youth Resilience Foundation’s first project will be creating children's books educating the public on the experiences of being a child with a disability. I wish for teachers, parents and peers of students with these disabilities to pick up the book and learn that it is completely normal to feel frightened and “weirded out” by those with disabilities but that does not excuse alienating the students or giving them poor treatment. Through a children's book I wish to project the silly childish morals we all once learned with no exception to any one.