MORE assessment and early intervention centres especially for children with Down Syndrome from low-income groups should be available to help stimulate, develop and prepare them for the next stage of their life.
Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow’s wife Tan Lean Kee urged the Federal and state governments to look into training more teachers in special needs education to enable more classes to open for the children.
Tan, who was the guest of honour at the Penang Down Syndrome Association’s (PDSA) 24th annual general meeting, urged business establishments to provide on-the-job training for special needs people and children by introducing a buddy system or the mentor-mentee programme.
“It has been proven that people with Down Syndrome can be trained and be independent.
“Parents of children with Down Syndrome should not be disheartened, although taking care of their children can be challenging and tiring,” she said in her speech.
Tan said other concerns affecting people with Down Syndrome were job opportunities and better healthcare availability, and hoped the government would look into these issues.
She congratulated PDSA, which was incepted in 1999 by a group of parents under the guidance of PDSA advisors Dr Sim Joo Seng and the late Joshua Joseph Yeoh.
“It is rare to have a non-governmental organisation that is completely run by parents, and I am sure it has been an amazing journey for all of you. Bravo to the pioneer batch for daring to dream,” she told the parents.
In his speech, Dr Sim said the challenges in the years to come were to ensure there would be more acceptance and assimilation in society for those with Down Syndrome.
“They are still not getting proper jobs.
“Some limitations still exist and we hope the state can look into how those with Down Syndrome can be useful citizens, by perhaps absorbing them to work in cottage industries,” he said at the event held in conjunction with World Down Syndrome Day which fell on March 21.
The association’s first chairman Sharifah Bee Daud, 73, was present with her daughter Marina Frohlich, 42.
“My daughter, who has Down Syndrome, is independent and employed.
“She is productive, has her own set of friends and helps out at the association,” she said.
Sharifah said that as a parent, she put in hard work and attended early intervention programmes to help her daughter.
“When she was young, I never kept her isolated at home; I treated her as a normal person.
“She has been exposed to the outside world since young and over the years, there has been much progress,” she said.
Sharifah is proud to see how the association, which began operating in a small room at the Caring Society Complex in 1999, now has its own building and will celebrate its 25th anniversary next year.
Another parent Peh Choon Moi, 64, whose daughter Eunice Tew, 32, is working in Bukit Mertajam, said the parents’ role was important in bringing up a child with Down Syndrome.
“My daughter would not be what she is today if not for the support from us as her parents and also others,” she said, adding that there should be more collaboration with other NGOs to create exposure for people with Down Syndrome.
Guests were shown a slide show of Yeoh’s contributions and watched performances by PDSA members.