Career? Not by choice!

When Sophie was diagnosed with a visual impairment, there was no one here in Singapore who could help me. I struggled so much trying to learn how to help her. Thank goodness for Gillian from Melbourne who came to our rescue.
Taking Sophie all the way to Australia for specialized assessments was costly for the family. But we had no choice. There was no one here who could do it. Those supposedly in the field of visual impairments were not even aware of any specialized assessments for such children.
It was the suggestion of Gillian that I took on the challenge to become specialized in teaching and supporting children with visual impairments myself. Desperately wanting to know what to do for my own child, I invested all my savings, and not to mention my time, and the time spent away from my family to pursue the masters programme.
Contrary to what many people think, it was not my intention to carve a career out of this for myself. It wasn’t to be a money-making venture.
When I graduated, I thought it would be great if I could share my knowledge and experience with others. So I volunteered my services. No one took me seriously. I wasn’t given the opportunity to work with the children I could help. Others just want me to tell them what to do to help the children.
When people started asking me for specialized services, I asked for a nominal fee. Some we’re grateful for the affordability in my fees, but many were appalled that I was charging at all. “I thought you do this as a volunteer?” Sure, but someone has to pay for my transport and time away from my family.
No, I do NOT want to do this for life. From the very start, I had requested that others be trained I this same area as I am. I do not want to be the ONLY one!
No one has heeded my call for training more teachers for children with visual impairments, and it seems that I am still the only one around. My services are highly sought. But this is not what I wanted, or want.
I only want to advocate for such services to be available to all children with visual impairments here in Singapore! I do not want to make it a career for myself. That would have been too convenient!
I despair at not being able to spend more time with my own children. I have made it clear. We will need to have someone else trained in 3 years or less. This is not my career choice.

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