On hiatus – Been volunteering a a center for the intellectually disabled

11Jul09

Recently I have been on hiatus from studying and hence have not been making new Quibblo quizzes. (Though I am glad to have received feedback from health science students that the quizzes were helpful). I have been volunteering at a center for the intellectually disabled in Singapore recently and after a few days, I have been able to identify the clients’ needs. For privacy sake, I will not mention where I’ve been at.

The key question I will answer about my experience so far is: Why did I decide to volunteer?

While this is a sensitive topic I believe it should be discussed. To be extremely honest, I have always suffered from a fear of irrational behaviour. At a shopping centre a man (who I now can identify was not mad, but a little hard of hearing) was “shouting” and many people were backing away from his strange demeanour, not realizing he was autistic. When I previously met people suffering from cerebral palsy, I did not understand their condition and ignored them.

I suppose my main reason for volunteering is actually a challenge to myself to confront this fear and dislike, and also because I wished to gain knowledge about intellectual disabilities. No one persuaded or had given me the idea to, I looked up the center on the internet and called them myself. Also, none of the staff at the center actually gave me a lengthy explanation about anything when I showed up. I was just called to imitate them by observation (for instance I observed them wearing thick polo tees).

And there’s the question: Has it been challenging? Will this make a good future career?

When I was first introduced to the clients I was to shake hands with them, but unfortunately on the rare occasion one or two clients are not aware of any appropriate gender protocol and they do abit of touching, (they are actually trying to get your attention), but they can be quite inappropriate! No I was not offended, I am very much aware that many of the clients are not aware of their actions. In fact, from that incident I realized this:

To sum up my entire experience, were the centre clients hard to deal with? Yes, sometimes, when they kick up a childish fit. But then again I very honestly say I prefer any single one of them to the company of some un-handicapped individuals I can name. Though they are not intellectually blessed about all of them are jolly, simple, happy people, childlike. They may throw tantrums but they are unable to plot harm against you – their needs are usually just one more cookie, more time in the toilet, that’s enough said. Would I consider a future career as a handicapped helper? Yes. In fact I found it more spiritually rewarding that any job I have taken in the past (aside from normal nursing practice which is rewarding too).

The clients are picked up by bus every morning and then the center runs activities every weekday from 10 – 3. It reminds me of a neverending youth camp and that is actually alot of fun. My “camp group” is usually excited when I arrive at “work” in the mornings and the girls will throw me hugs. And we get to play games like Boggle and sit around and have milo and cookies and chat about stuff. It’s a great job.

My experience so far

On Day 1 I was introduced to the centres’ clients, who are distributed into different groups according to their needs as follows:

I. Autism
II. Down syndrome
III. Cerebral Palsy
IV. Intellectual Disability

So far I have spent the most time with Group II patients.

A typical day at the centre typically consisted of a schedule that ran with:

10am – 11am: Singspiration. Some of the clients are excellent dancers, and being a dance handicap, I can only sit and watch dumbfounded.

11am – 12pm: Some light snacks, and then some classroom activities.

12.15pm: Lunch. Thereafter, most clients are encouraged to wash their own dishes. The autistic clients usually follow a schedule of their own and when told to do the dishes, they may take a long time just to make sure it is clean. But the staff refrains from disturbing them and they happily clean and clean away, ensuring no spot of water or dirt remains on the dishes.

1pm – 3pm: Miscellaneous classroom activities, games etc. Depending on their different needs, some clients may see the physiotherapist for some activities. One lady with cerebral palsy is unable to speak and has twisted joints – she is almost always at the physiotherapist at this time of the day for instance.

One day a group of university volunteers came to visit with some cardboard frames, which the clients and staff got to paint. We did a good job of course, and these frames were given as presents (and as a sort of outreach) to the neighbourhood.

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