Helping Hands

KNU has many students with a variety of physical disabilities. I have worked with a few girls who have C.P. SungKyung is one of them. I'll call her SK. SK has been a challenge for me to teach only because her speech is very slow and she has to work hard to just get a few English words out. She is teaching me about patience and she is teaching me to see beyond her limitations. She is a hard worker. I had changed her semester project and made it shorter. Today she came to me and told me she could do more than I was asking of her. Wow, how often do you tell a teacher you want more work? No other student has ever asked for more.

Today I watched SK offer kindness to another student. Because of her disability she has limited use of her hands. They are often difficult to control. Another one of my students Ji Hye, who uses crutches daily to walk was sitting next to SK. (SK sits in a wheelchair) Ji Hye's crutches were next to SK too far for Ji Hye to reach. I watched SK slowly reach out to grab Ji Hye's crutches. One at a time, with two fingers because the other three fingers were curled into her palm, she moved those crutches to Ji Hye. It was a slow process which required great focus on SK's part. Ji Hye had a grateful smile on her face. Both of these girls have great physical limitations. And I'm sure both are used to being helped by people. So to watch SK helping was awesome! It was a powerful sight to watch kindness and dilligence superseed physical limitations.