‘Explore your strengths’

Robin: One very empowering action you can do is to get to know the disabled people around you.

“CAN you do it or not?”

This was one of the most humiliating questions I have ever been asked.

After failing to complete some perfectly simple task, I would step aside, cheeks scarlet, and explain why I could not.

About four weeks before I was supposed to be delivered, my mother began experiencing labour pains. She quickly informed my father, who rushed her to the hospital. After several scans, it was discovered that I had somehow been dislodged from the placenta, and was suffering from oxygen deprivation as a result.

Frantically, the doctors performed a caesarean section on my mother to deliver me. Despite the complications, everything turned out fine.However, about eight months later, my parents noticed something – I wasn’t using both my hands to play with my toys. My aunt, a doctor, recommended they get me checked, and I was diagnosed with spastic hemiplegia, a form of cerebral palsy that affects one side of the body. In my case, it was the right side.Since then, I have grown up with a flaccid right hand and a stiff, halting gait. I go for regular checkups and physiotherapy, but these are all to maintain my current musculature. Nothing else can be done.

Even so, navigating life was not too difficult. My mother homeschooled my three siblings and me, so I never faced the bullying or shaming other children with cerebral palsy might experience in a school.In homeschooling, one thing my mother always did was to read stories to us. I remember listening to books ranging from Greek myths to Shakespeare and even Malaysian folk tales. This infused in me a love for literature and storytelling. As I grew older and began to meet more people, I increasingly felt out of place. Thankfully, I could still perform tasks like handwriting, and my studies were not negatively impacted.

But I could never perform tasks as simple as tying knots. I always needed assistance and was unable to help anyone with such jobs.

My most pervasive fear was that I would be perceived as useless and lazy.

But all of this changed last year. At the beginning of the year, I was given the privilege of taking part in a programme where I explored a variety of writing skills – from techniques for creating drama to how-tos on character development and guidance on editing.

In this way, I could grow and mature my gifts in a safe, open space. By the end of it, the other students and I each had the opportunity to publish a short story in an anthology.Now, I am writing as a BRATs young journalist, further enhancing my writing skills beyond the creative sphere and in journalism. Through both of these programmes, I have had the invaluable opportunity to develop my writing skills to a greater level. My cerebral palsy does not hold me back; writing has freed me into a world of possibilities, untouched by my physical limitations.

Even better, my writing has given me a platform to speak on behalf of those who have similar disabilities.

It may feel at times that we are “obstacles” or even “burdens” to others because simple tasks are beyond our capabilities.

However, for those who relate to what I have shared, I encourage you to continue exploring your abilities and strengths.

Disabled or not, everyone has a unique skillset and should not be made to feel as though they are not worthy, capable or significant.

Finally, for those without disabilities, one very empowering action you can do is to get to know the disabled people around you.

Treating them as you would anyone else defeats the shame and stigma they may face. By doing this, we will open up the way to a brighter, more welcoming Malaysia.

Robin, 16, a student in Selangor, is a participant of the BRATs Young Journalist Programme run by The Star’s Newspaper-in-Education (Star-NiE) team. For updates on the BRATs programme, go to facebook.com/niebrats.