Integration

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Mr. L.F. Lo

 

Please click here for the audio summary

 

It is our honour to have Mr. Lo Lok Fung, a resource teacher from the Ebenezer School & Home for the visually impaired, share his insights on integrated education in Hong Kong.

 

Background and Aspirations

Mr. Lo has been teaching at the Ebenezer School for four years.  He is responsible for providing Ebenezer School graduates with necessary resources.  It is hard for them to face challenges in a new environment by themselves.  Therefore, he goes to mainstream schools to help them adapt to the new environment.

 

Mr. Lo reveals that after working at the Ebenezer School, he realizes that justice is the main reason for him to continue working as a teacher because there are inequalities in society, and as a result of those inequalities, he believes he can do something to fight for the visually-impaired students for a fairer treatment in schools and higher education institutions. 

 

Ebenezer School and Its Students

For the students, it is too difficult for them to study science-based subjects for the HKDSE because of the abstract science concepts.  Therefore, most of the students would choose subjects based on words such as Economics and History. As a result, students usually have fewer program choices in the universities and it may be one of the reasons why it is difficult to find a suitable job after graduation.

 

Academic Difficulties

Mr. Lo also indicated that the most difficult subject for visually-impaired students is Mathematics.  Since there is still no official and effective Braille-based method to study this subject, students have to type a long passage in Braille to acquire new formulas.  It is a complicated process and it can affect the study of the students.  Graphics are also involved in some of the topics and students have to touch the figures with their fingers to “see” them.  Again, it is challenging for visually-impaired students.

 

Integrated Education

Mr. Lo strongly supports integrated education, particularly for visually-impaired students.  He thinks that it is a good way to help the students to adapt to mainstream learning environment.  In the long term, it is easier for them to be more integrated into society.  He also mentions that there are a number of challenges for them, such as studying and socializing.  After all, the most important aspect is to increase their confidence they should feel no different than those who are not visually impaired.  If students have confidence, they will then demand themselves to reach a better standard and as such, they will be more willing to try and achieve higher levels. However, there are still some students who are not willing to study in a new environment since they may lack communication skills.  In order to solve this issue, Mr. Lo thinks that better encouragement is a way to help them and to deal with social interaction problems, Mr. Lo has tried to find some topics that the students are interested in to help guide them to speak with others.

 

Unforgettable Moments

Mr. Lo also shares some of his memorable moments in his teaching: there was a visually-impaired student who also has foot disability.  Under the guidance of his mentor, the student learned snorkeling step by step.  As a result, Mr. Lo was very impressed.  And he thought if we can provide time and chance to the disabled, they can also do anything same as normal people.  Mr. Lo found that the visually-impaired students usually have less life experiences than others.  Their family members tend to think that staying home is safe due to their disability.  They have to try more when they are studying, in order to build up their confidence.

 

What we can do

Mr. Lo also suggests that we can do something simple but important to assist the visually-impaired students: RESPECT.  Confidence should be built by themselves.  All we have to do is not to provide too much help to these students.  We should view them as normal as us.  It is indeed what they hope.

 

Writer: Yung Chi Hang, Herrick (5E)