I attended Bizlink talk last Sat to understand more on how Bizlink helps people in the diabled community looks for jobs in open/sheltered employment. Well I am not sharing on this... instead it is on something that I encountered during the talk.
One of the caregiver was venting her frustration on her experience with Bizlink. Her son went to Bizlink for vocational assessment in 2005 however he did not make it through to be selected for employment. She was more upset with Bizlink rejection letter to her, as there was no alternatives/references given to her, than her son failing to go pass the assessment. Her whole world collapsed then and she felt helpless. She is not expecting her son to get a job to support the family rather it was more of an avenue to let son integrate into the society... in fact she was even prepared to give her son more allowance in order to make it substainable for him to work.
As she relates the incident, I could see and sense her disappointment & frustration even till this moment. Fortunately, she is very persistent in seeking employment for her son (now at KFC) and her effort finally paid off. I am glad to hear that. It is heart warming to see the love this mother showed for her son but more importantly, her never say die, never give up attitude is something for us to learn.
I relate it to another incident that happened to Boon Ling early this year. He was caught throwing things off his HDB flat as most of you recall. I still remembered clearly the relief showed by his mother when this incident is finally closed. If not for Mr Goh -> MINDS -> Boon Ling's TDC intervention, she would be totally lost then.
What I am trying to say, support (either internal within the family or external from organisation/volunteers like you) to caregivers are very important because it does continue to give them the extra hope & belief despite the challenges they have experienced with their children for so many years. Sometimes, just some words of encouragement or a pat of the shoulder could easily give them the extra courage to move on in their lives... this I have just experienced it.
-choon seng
PS: Anyway, we have feedback to Bizlink to be more careful in their rejection letter to people who failed to make it through their vocational assessment... so that in the moment of disappoint of not getting pass the assessment, the families will still retain some hope with the society :)
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
hi choonseng!
that is really strange to hear. I interned at bizlink for 2 months and I never heard of people getting rejection letters. Instead we always referred people elsewhere if they were unsuitable and also contacted those agencies on their behalf for appointments and such.
of course there will always be service gaps and some people will keep being referred from one place to another without being helped. but also not because of anyone's fault.
how is everyone back there? this is a belated shoutout to thank everyone for the sweater which i've been wearing almost everyday. and for the sendoff as well. i'm doing quite well here, comparatively, the city of edinburgh is simply beautiful, though there are lots of things to get used to. we had a fire evacuation just now at 430AM just because some people were smoking excessively in their flat and set the alarm off. the brigade came as well. it was quite surreal, even though i've seen this happen to other blocks several times already. yes, it is very common here in the uk. like 9 times within 4 days of freshers week earlier.
i am missing bk already. ahh. anyone coming over for christmas? i can show you around! =)
-wendy
Hi Wendy,
That incident happened 2 years back... ya I believe no one is at fault and Bizlink is doing its best to help.
Glad to hear you are settling well!
Take care & keep us in touch.
-choon eng
Post a Comment