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FEATURE: Taiwan’s Helen Keller about
to make history
By Chiu Shao-wen and Wang Shan-yen / Staff Reporters
Teacher for the visually impaired
Hsu Hsin-fang, left, communicates with Liu Yu-ling using tactile fingerspelling
in Taipei on Friday.
Photo: Chiu Shao-wen, Taipei Times
A 23-year-old will soon become the
nation’s first person with multiple physical disabilities to enroll into
college.
Liu Yu-ling (劉育伶) is deaf and has also been plagued by visual impairment since
her youth and can only use her sense of touch to communicate. Despite those
challenges, Liu recently graduated from the Taipei School for the Visually
Impaired and has enrolled in Nanhua University’s Department of Applied
Sociology.
A modern-day version of Helen Keller, Liu did not allow her disabilities to get
in the way of her ambitions. Rather, she learned swimming and track and field
and became adept at handicrafts.
Liu has managed to communicate with people around her using Braille, computers
for the visually impaired, a communications tablet and natural sign language.
Her family has also learned the unique spelling method, making it easier for
them to communicate with Liu.
Hsu Hsin-fang (許馨方), Liu’s teacher, said tactile fingerspelling — a system that
uses various finger positions to represent the 37 phonetic symbols used in the
Zhuyin Fuhao (注音符號, commonly known as Bopomofo) system and distinct signals for
the four tones — enables students with multiple disabilities to easily
communicate by hand.
The system was introduced in Taiwan about a year ago by a teacher from the Hui
Ming School, a specialized school for students with disabilities, who had gone
to Australia to study it.
Nanhua University said that because of Liu’s multiple disabilities, the teachers
in the “resource room” would train themselves in tactile fingerspelling to
facilitate communication with her and would arrange for students to assist Liu
outside the classroom.
The university said it had specialized computer equipment and sensors for
students with disabilities, adding that it would arrange for students to act as
learning aides to accompany and take down notes for Liu during class and then
use the computer to turn those notes into Braille.
The university will hold talks with Liu, her family and her high school teacher
to better understand her needs and how to meet them, it said.
Given her interest in making friends, Liu has developed various ways to
communicate with others.
Although she usually needs help for an assistant to translate her tactile
fingerspelling and communicate with teachers and her mother, sometimes she would
“type” Braille on the back of the hand of a visually impaired student, “chat”
using sign language with students with hearing disabilities or use computers and
a communication pad to interact with other people.
Not only does Liu like to learn, she also likes to win.
Liu says she likes the feeling of receiving an award on stage and has actively
participated in every sport at school, including track and field and swimming,
as well as writing competitions and Braille challenges, in which she often came
out on top.
Liu also likes to do handicraft work. Although she can’t see, she often “guides
the thread through the needle” by instinct. She has made about 30 rabbits by
threading beads together and used those as a graduation gift for her teachers.
Not only has Liu enrolled at Nanhua University, she has also received the annual
Presidential Education Award.
Liu said that although she has a class-C massage certificate, she wishes to
continue her studies.
When Liu’s father Liu Chun-fa (劉春發) attended his daughter’s graduation on
Thursday last week, he thanked the different people who gave Liu Yu-ling the
chance to receive an education and did not forget to remind his daughter to be
grateful.
The Taipei School for the Visually Impaired said Liu Yu-ling was the eldest and
also the first student to receive higher education from the school, adding that
her success has made her a role model for all.
TRANSLATED BY JAKE CHUNG, STAFF WRITEr
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