Transcript

The power of belonging | Vikneswaran Krishnan Murthi | TEDxUWCSEAEast

[Music] coming into a community with a vulnerability as it is can be extremely daunting but at the same time it can be inspiring enabling and enriching for others as well i'm here to share a story about how someone with a vulnerability became a lighthouse and a champion for others in terms of academic excellence as well as a true reflection of good character let me share his story my story is about a student with cerebral palsy he is paraplegic his name is kanchan i met kanchan in my previous job in anglo-chinese school buckaroot a mission school where i was playing the role of supporting students with special needs and learning difficulties as it is conscience was under my wing kangshan was able to uh come into angular chinese school buck road because in his psle primary school living examination he did very well acs buck road anglo chinese school buckle is a school of excellence in the sense that it gives equal opportunities to everyone enabling growth so for function this was a golden opportunity prior to coming into a school such as acs a boys school the support team had to do many areas of planning and implementation we had to factor many areas so that function can excel these areas included how is this movement planned what are the potential areas that we need to look out for such as potential bullying taunting so on and so forth with all of these measures put into place function actually entered into the campus and together with that we also implemented a body system in the classroom function was always encouraged to have two or three bodies so that they can take care of his well-being but because of his personality this body system of two or three students eventually became 42 students who took turn what happened is that kanchan built such a huge group of friends who were more than willing to be there for function at any point of time support measures also included specialized chess access arrangement lift access as well as special movement plans so that council does not have so much of difficulties as you move around the campus the campus was a huge environment so it takes a bit of planning but all of this enabled function to be happy many of the times there were differentiation in the assessment criteria and pedagogies so that competencies met in in line with conscience abilities wherever possible we differentiated the curriculum we differentiated assessment measures such that there was always opportunities for function to demonstrate his strengths and how did this was shown is that function always was happy and he always engaged with everyone in his own ways function was extremely vulnerable from in a classroom from one table to the other table even as he needs to move around he has to hold on to the edge of the table that's how fragile he was even when accessing to the toilet he would need to hold on to somebody's hands as he moved on to the toilet that's how vulnerable he was but yet he always had bodies who were willing to support him so kanchan felt that he belonged in that community he felt treasured how did he always give back to the community every year without fail kanchan always was the level topper academically he is so well-versed and he was able to give back to the community by also being a peer tutor kanchan always spent afternoons in a week staying back and supporting weaker students and teaching them in mathematics and science so what happened is that he experienced equity and inclusion in this process as much as he is vulnerable he was also able to give back because the community allowed this to happen when kanchan moved on from the lower secondary years to the upper secondary years which was in literally like from grade 8 to grade 9 the academic rigor would change most definitely so the school planned a program in such that every teacher or counselor or school staff will have three or four students who they will personally coach to check in if they are settling down accordingly chose me to be his mentor at that point of time teachers were allowed to explore avenues to do this checking in so in that sense i was exploring art as a medium to use art to check in uh and as a reflection point for my students to see if they were settling down fine in that in the perspective of therapeutic art you are not judged of what you express you are allowed to express yourself what you want in whatever means so function expressed what you see on the screen it is an apple tree no doubt but if you look at the base the base of the tree is huge for a student or for an individual who's paraplegic who has weakness in the lower limbs he draws such an expression taking a bit of perspective i asked him this question at that point of time you really want to stand on your own right kanchan responded with a subtle smile which seems to approve my question it was a catharsis moment for conscience because like what i hypothesized by him silently smiling and nodding a little bit it seems to acknowledge that actually that was what he really desired it was the true core desire right now moving forward slightly as he move on in the term what happened is that one fine day conscience dad approached me and said kangshan has decided to go for a corrective surgery this was in late october which was a critical period of time for students who's going to be sitting for gceo level in the following year function approaching's dead approach to me and said function has decided to go for a corrective surgery he is going to go for a surgery that would allow him to have a little bit of mobility i was puzzled this surgery was not a need so i asked his dad the question why is he choosing to go for a surgery at this point of time especially when there are so many things that uh that he needs to manage languages orals listening compre which is a national exam process was going to happen but why did he choose to do then functions that said if he's not going to do it now he feels that he might not even do it much later so i ensured his dad that let him go for his surgery we will put in the appropriate measures so that he can catch up much quickly on whatever he has left off at this point of time i would like to ask a question or i'd like you to think about a question in terms of conscience decision why did a boy choose to do or take an extreme measure as such during one of the most critical time in his academic journey he could have done it much later but why then think about it kanchan came back in february the following year in a wheelchair he had cast and his leg was stretched 180 degrees it was a painful process and he was always had to be in a wheelchair for a period of time as he goes through therapy so we placed all the measures enhanced the body support give him a specialized table so that he can pursue his studies everything was going fine and i was continuing on with the support in my own ways with the teachers as well i'm also the staff who actually support students with access arrangement i'm collaborating with the singapore examination board together with a team such that we are coordinating access arrangement in the national exams so my role was to collate documents conchshin was a student who also had access arrangement and in late in late july in that year i am collating the documents and preparing each individual student's docket i was sitting in my room and my room has no windows except for a small little panel on the door i heard a knock but i could not see who was behind the door i went to the door i opened the door and there was kanchan standing he gave me this document mr vignesh this is the document for my access arrangement application i took the document and i asked him this question you came alone he said i can manage on my own now at that point of time my hair is standing it's same thing there were tears dropping down but i didn't show that because here is a boy who came to the school with such a vulnerability who depended on his peer support quite extensively and here he is standing all alone with his two legs fragile but yet strong that was a moment that i realized how powerful can an experience be functioned i accompanied him back to his classroom and he was walking all alone holding on here and there but on his own it was a milestone moment for me as much as it's for function moving forward kanchan did well in his all levels moved on and in 2020 he graduated in flying colors with a degree in economics i still keep in touch with him now i asked this question earlier on why did a student decided to do such a major operation at a point which was most crucial to his academic journey de leon gray actually mentions that if a student feels has a strong feelings or sense of belonging in his academic environment it will lead to powerful outcomes and it will motivate him or her in many ways for conscience the power of the community the power of belonging that he felt in the community was the reason that he took such a powerful decision to go for a surgery but the outcome was extraordinary as it is what i would like to share or just encourage this community to think about is how do you enhance this concept this sense this authentic feeling of what belonging is the secret is never in the big picture the secret is in the small little things that you do for another that builds the sense of belonging as such it did for conscience who stands like a pillar as such everyone here stands like a pillar in your journey if you find your sense of belonging thank you [Applause]