Lawyer Chia, who has spent 20 years in a wheelchair because of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, says she cannot help noticing that many people call her the “lawyer with a disability”. So, with the two-and-a-half-year parliamentary term ahead, the 52-year-old woman has decided to focus on advocating for the importance of people with disabilities, starting by removing stereotyped views of people with disabilities. And also because it is tied to the story of her own life.
“My father is a driver”
| “I want to stress that people with disabilities also have different abilities and work very hard to integrate into society”
Lawyer CHIA YONG TONG |
Lawyer Chia sees herself as truly lucky to have a wonderful family. Her parents did not have many opportunities to study properly and had to struggle to make a living, so they understood the value of knowledge very well.
They did not give up hope, but placed strong faith in their daughter with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. The Straits Times reported that Ms Chia's parents believed a degree would one day give their eldest child wings, giving her a certain independence and enough income to live a fuller life, even while struggling every day with her contracted hands and her wheelchair.
So that their daughter could pursue her education, Mr Chia Cheng Heng drove his truck every day to take his daughter to the National University of Singapore. Meanwhile, her mother, Teo Kee Wei, took on more work to increase the family's income. Mrs Teo took in children to look after, worked as a domestic helper and as a factory worker.
Not disappointing her parents' expectations, Ms Chia Yong Yong overcame her fate and became a lawyer, the head of a charity for people with disabilities, and is about to become a member of the Singapore Parliament.
Today, Ms Chia's father is still a driver for the family. Every day he drives his daughter to the office of the Yusarn Audrey law firm, where she works.
“I grew up in a sheltered and loving environment. I feel that if I can do it, why can't others?” – she said of her wish to devote herself to fighting for the rights of people with disabilities.
The whole community needs to change
| Having known Ms Chia for 25 years, since before she could still walk on her own two feet, Stephen Phua (50), a law lecturer at the National University of Singapore, said he had never seen any negative emotions in Ms Chia. Instead, she always has a cheerfulness that easily spreads to others. “Witnessing her daily struggle with simple tasks has eased all my tiredness and impatience. She is the very image of an indomitable spirit with a gentle soul” – Mr Phua recalled. |
According to Ms Chia, phrases such as “the community of people with disabilities” used to refer to people with disabilities mean “we will never be a part of the Singaporean community”. Such discriminatory phrases pigeonhole people with disabilities into their own impairments, and “make it difficult for them to realise that they can contribute to the community in any other way”.
The future parliamentarian, through the media, listed a number of proposals starting with small changes, such as letting people with disabilities sit with other audience members at public events such as National Day, performances, and many other areas such as education or employment, where “more work needs to be done”.
Lawyer Chia proposed creating more opportunities for children with disabilities to study in ordinary schools, and more activities linking pupils in ordinary schools with special education schools for children with disabilities.
In particular, ordinary schools should focus more on helping pupils understand more about other people's disabilities and their special needs. “(Initiatives like these) will help our children grow up with the mindset that they are living together in one community, regardless of ability to work” – Ms Chia observed.
On the other hand, expanding online education also makes things easier for students who cannot come to school regularly.
Education and training for people with disabilities is the right thing to do, but they also need to be given job opportunities. According to Lawyer Chia, changes in policy and infrastructure can become useless if they are not supplemented by “software”, and one of the important things is that colleagues should feel comfortable working with colleagues with disabilities.
“We need to step up training for people with disabilities and build their confidence in the workplace. Once again, people should learn to accept people with disabilities, and other issues will gradually be resolved” – Ms Chia stressed.
“The Government, one of the country's largest employers, should lead the way in employing people with disabilities” – Lawyer Chia concluded.