My camera was wonky when I went to Penang in June so I did not manage to take pictures of anything or anybody at Eden Handicap during my volunteering stint there.. So I had to resort to stealing this picture of Julie from Eden Handicap’s newsletter.

Julie was a very soft-spoken lady. When I visited the Training Unit, she took the time to explain to me in detail how the training unit functioned and the kind of trainings provided to the people with disabilities.

First and foremost, at Eden Handicap, people with disabilities are trained to take care of themselves. They are trained to make their own beds and take care of their own belongings, e.g. their own toothbrush and mug. That is because nobody wants to hire anybody who cannot even take care of themselves.

They are also trained to communicate with other people with disabilities. Many times, misunderstandings happened because they could not communicate with one another. They could not express themselves in a way that other people with disabilities could understand. And that was why fights happened once in a while. They are trained to say “Please” and “Thank you”. And when they are involved in a fight, Julie will “interrogate” them and ask them what happened and listen to all sides of the story..

Besides the basic living and social skills, they are also trained to keep their environment clean. Julie assigns them house chores such as sweeping and mopping the floor, cleaning the dining table and cupboards.