A sharing session was held at Classroom 8216 in the afternoon of December 3rd, International Day of Persons with Disabilities. Huang Ying, a blind student from Department of Social Work, Wuhan University of Technology, was invited by the School of Sociology, CCNU, to share her experience of growing up and getting into college as a blind girl in China. Prof. Darrell Irwin (Dean of School of Sociology, CCNU), Prof. Patrick O’Leary from Griffith University, Prof. Wan Rende (Vice Dean of School of Sociology, CCNU), and Mr. Xue Pingjun (Deputy Secretary of CPC Committee of School of Sociology, CCNU) attended the event together with social work students from School of Sociology.
Prof. Irwin began the sharing session by sharing his own story growing up having connections with people with disabilities, and expressed his admiration to people who cope well with their difficulties. He also encouraged people to treat persons with disabilities as their equals, and the government should provide a good environment for them. Prof. O’Leary introduced some new changes in government policies towards persons with disabilities, and how disabled persons can get their own choice of care given by the government depending on their own needs. He also introduced some general social welfare policies in Australia.
Huang Ying began her story by her refusal to be trained as a masseuse when she was a seven-year old blind girl, when most people at that time believed the only job for blind persons are doing massage. Through hard work, she attended the school for blind people in Qingdao, and became one of the best students there. She participated in a lot of extra-curricular activities there, and also helped her classmates with their study. When the opportunity of attending the general college entrance exams came, she decided to take it. She worked hard day and night to catch up with the courses, as the exam for general college entrance were much more difficult than the one designed only for disabled persons. Her hard work paid off, and she was admitted to the Department of Social Work at Wuhan University of Technology, a “Project 211” university in Hubei Province.
The professors and classmates at Wuhan University of Technology greeted Huang Ying with the warmest welcome, and provide a lot of help for her study and living there. Huang Ying said before studying social work, her dream was to become a teacher for people with disabilities, but now, she would also like to work at a social work organization and try to help more people.
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| Huang Ying |
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| Prof. Irwin |
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| Prof. O'Leary |
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| social work students |
