City of Davis Proclamation

City of Davis Mayor Sue Greenwald reading my proclamation at the City Council meeting. To read the proclamation online, please visit: http://www.city.davis.ca.us/meetings/councilpackets/20080624/01_PROC-Ms_Wheelchair_CA.pdf

June 1st - 9th, Rural Education and Action Development

After distributing wheelchairs in Ongole, I extended my time in India with a non-governmental organiztion called READ. They recently built a Disability Center to provide services and aid to people with disabilities in Andimadam, India. Some of the sponsor children in READ were HIV positive and orphans. Again, I saw many cases of young people with disabilities with polio and leprosies. During my visit, I got a chance to play with the children, to distribute school supplies, and to encourag them. You can find out more about the organization by visiting http://www.sahaya.org/read/read.html.

May 21st-June 1st, Wheels for the World India

I went with Joni and Friends Wheels for the World to Ongole, India to distribute 200 wheelchairs to people with disabilities. Many recipients came to the distribution site either being carried by their parents or crawling to the site. Having a disability in India is seen as a curse so people with disabilities must accept their sin and not ask for any rights in society. Women with disabilities are treated worse than men with disabilities. For example, on the last day of distribution, local organizers were afraid that the wheelchairs were running out. There was still a long line of recipients waiting. The women who were already in front of the line were then forced by the local organizers to go to the back of the line. Women with disabilities were viewed as third-class citizens. Moreover, these women did not speak up or advocated for themselves. After learning about this, our team spoke to the local organizers and educated them that women with disabilities should not be discriminated. The local organizers then put the women with disabilites back in front of the line. As an Asian woman with disability, I understand some of the challenges women with disabilities face daily. It is common for us to have low self-esteem because society has told us that we are valuable human beings. But this is not true, we have the skills and knowledge to accomplish many things in life. We need to believe in our abilities. Therefore, I want encourage all women with disabilites to speak up for yourselves and one another. If not, the consequence of injustice and discrimination will continue to permeate in our society.

Once the recipients received their wheelchairs, I was able to train them on how to use the wheelchairs safely. For many of them, it was their first day of independence. To learn more about Joni and Friends WFTW, please visit: http://www.joniandfriends.org/