This year’s Paralympic Games in Paris saw the Hong Kong team achieve great success. 20-year-old swimmer Chan Yui-lam won a silver medal in the Women’s 100m Butterfly S14 event, once again making Hong Kong proud. Chan started formal training at the age of 10 and has continually broken her own Asian records, striving to surpass herself. Despite inherent or acquired limitations, everyone can have a meticulously crafted future.
60 years ago, CUHK pioneered the first Undergraduate Program in Social Work in Hong Kong, attracting high-quality faculty. To date, the Department of Social Work has nurtured over 8,400 graduates who shine in frontline, management, and research positions. This issue of Cubic Zine focuses on Dr. Wong King-shui Phyllis, a senior lecturer and chairperson of Undergraduate Program and Curriculum Committeein the Department of Social Work. Phyllis initially fought on the frontline of social work, then advocated for legislation to provide more protection for the disability community. Eventually, she entered the education sector to cultivate new blood and promote academic exchange. Since introducing the concept of quality of life in 1997, Phyllis’ team has newly developed a self-determination training program tailored for people with intellectual disabilities over 27 years of research. Emphasizing the concept of “nothing about us without us,” they have transformed their research findings into e-learning resources to benefit the community.
From Volunteer to Social Worker
The seed of serving society was planted in Phyllis’ heart from a young age. Living in a resettlement area until university graduation and influenced by TV programs discussing current affairs, Phyllis has been concerned about local social issues and has always been connected to grassroots communities. “I have an inner drive and passion to understand them better and to do something to improve their lives. I think this is the most fulfilling thing.”
Phyllis is deeply rooted in the local community. To interact with different groups, she started volunteering during the summer of her third year in secondary school. After serving three groups—youth, the elderly, and people with intellectual disabilities—Phyllis felt very happy and comfortable interacting with people with intellectual disabilities, affectionately calling them “friends with intellectual disabilities.” During the economic boom, while most people chose popular industries, Phyllis focused on the path of social work and has always been committed to serving friends with intellectual disabilities: “At that time, most social work students pursued mainstream services such as family or youth fields after graduation. Who would fight for the rights and improve the lives of our friends with disabilities?”
Phyllis was also a budget backpacker, traveling to 37 countries and experiencing many places with vastly different political, economic, and cultural backgrounds, such as Russia, Poland, Turkey, and Finland. She realized that people’s pursuit of happiness varies greatly across cultures. “In Hong Kong, people are unhappy if they can’t buy a house, and if they do buy one, they worry about the mortgage. Life has many forms, and the most important thing is to know what you like and need. Follow your own path, and you will be happy.” Additionally, her mother broke traditional norms by insisting on going to school despite her grandfather’s opposition in the hometown during the 1930s, a time when boys were favored over girls. Her mother’s courage to carve out own path deeply moved and inspired Phyllis from a young age, leading her to focus her research on self-determination and life planning, hoping that people with intellectual disabilities can also live fulfilling lives.
Currently, the Social Welfare Department provides services for people with intellectual disabilities, including vocational rehabilitation, day training, residential care, and community support. The Hospital Authority offers comprehensive medical and rehabilitation services for adults with intellectual disabilities, and the Education Bureau provides educational support and funding for children with intellectual disabilities. Reflecting on the early 1990s when she first entered the field, Phyllis lamented the poor quality of disability services and the limited resources allocated by society. “During my fieldwork placement, there was a 30-year-old man with severe intellectual disability. After graduating from a special school at 16, he couldn’t get any services for people with intellectual disabilities. Initially, he could call his mother and had some self-care skills, but after 14 years, he could only rely on the care from his mother at home, his abilities regressed. It was heartbreaking.”
Dreaming, Building Dreams, Chasing Dreams, Fulfilling Dreams
In 2019, Phyllis received funding from the General Research Fund (GRF) to develop a group-based intervention curriculum on self-determination and conduct empirical research. The goal was to enable people with intellectual disabilities to master self-determination competencies and skills through systematic training. During the pandemic, recruiting people with intellectual disabilities was challenging, and the study spanned a long period. However, hard work paid off, and research data confirmed that her training helped enhance self-determination competencies and personal well-being among people with intellectual disabilities. While busy sharing her research findings at international conferences and academic journals, Phyllis was also contemplating: how can the research results be transformed into universal tools for NGOs and people with intellectual disabilities to use in daily life?
Her answer was to develop a resourceful website and the “Myself, I Dominate” auxiliary learning APP through the Knowledge Transfer Project Fund (KPF) of CUHK. During the KPF application season, Phyllis seized the opportunity to plan with her two capable partners, Kay and Jim. Kay, though not a social worker, has experience in services related to people with disabilities and is responsible for collaborating with the technical team to create the website and APP. Jim, once Phyllis’s student, enjoyed interacting with people with intellectual disabilities during her social work placement and continued to serve them on the frontline after graduation. After becoming a mother, she rejoined Phyllis’ research project as a researcher, returning to the frontline. Phyllis describes the three-person team as “each having their own strengths, complementing each other’s limitations, and together fit and complete.”
The team strives for perfection, continuously seeking target users for testing, collecting feedback, making improvements, and testing again during the development phase. Despite numerous challenges, the team overcame them one by one. Firstly, it was still the end of the pandemic when they started, making it difficult to recruit users.
Fortunately, many organizations serving people with disabilities were enthusiastic and responsive, providing reliable data for continuous improvement of the APP. Phyllis overcame the challenges from the perspective of the organizations: “The three of us in the team have all worked in organizations before, so we understand their situations well. We know when to approach them and under what circumstances they are willing to collaborate.”
Secondly, when collecting feedback, they need to cater for the characteristics of people with intellectual disabilities. Therefore, the team specifically made videos to help users intuitively understand the design concepts of the APP. They also manually designed and created over 30 illustrations to simulate the operation of the APP, thereby soliciting user opinions. Thirdly, during the improvement process, it is also necessary to ensure that the technical team understands what needs to be changed and why. The team specifically led the technical team to visit the organizations in person and listen to user feedback face-to-face.
In the process of promoting and designing the APP “Myself, I Dominate,” over 200 users, social workers, and teachers participated. By the time of the launch event in September 2024, more than 420 people attended, downloaded the APP, and browsed the website. With the support of organizations and families, Phyllis’ team hopes the project will benefit more people with intellectual disabilities.
Co-creation Makes One Plus One Greater Than Two
The international disability field particularly values the notion of “Nothing about us without us.” Phyllis understands the importance of user participation in APP development: “Many times, as professionals, we think about what people with disabilities need and then create services for them. However, what outsiders create is not necessarily what the individuals truly want; what outsiders think does not necessarily align with the individuals’ pace.”
The APP “Myself, I Dominate” is designed for people with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities and is co-created with them. Through extensive participation, Phyllis’ team has also learned a lot from their friends with intellectual disabilities. Jim described, “They always think out of their own box,” and their empathy particularly impressed the team. “They not only think about themselves but also consider the situations and needs of other friends with intellectual disabilities around them, then tell us how to make it more comprehensive.”
The wording and language used in the APP have been carefully considered. A difference between “you” and “I” can bring a significant difference in experience. When users set personal goals, each operation is accompanied by text descriptions and voice prompts. Friends with intellectual disabilities suggested that the content they read should use “I” as the subject, while the content they hear should use “you” as the subject. For example, users read “My goal is,” but hear “What goal do you want to set?” This way, friends with intellectual disabilities feel that the APP is just an auxiliary tool, helping them enter the situation and set their own personal goals and plans.
Another aspect of co-creation involves organizations serving people with intellectual disabilities. Jim mentioned that the team’s motivation also comes from the affirmation of colleagues in these organizations. “The colleagues in the organizations are very cooperative with our work. They cherish the opportunity to co-create with a team from the university and are looking forward to the launch of our APP, hoping it can genuinely help the service users.”
The team also invited the technical team to interact with users in person, which became part of the co-creation process. Kay, who works closely with the technical team, remarked, “We often make requests, like asking for larger text and icons. However, the technical team often doesn’t understand why, saying ‘It’s already quite large.’ Then, when they see users trying it out, they realize that for users or those with lower vision, it’s difficult to press with their fingers. When they see it firsthand, they understand these difficulties better and work together to find solutions. This is how we have been collaborating all along.”
One Day We Can Fly
Phyllis often jokes about her small stature but believes it leads unexpected advantages: agility. She is particularly empathetic towards friends who encounter obstacles in life and hopes they can also find their strengths and life goals. “Some friends with intellectual disabilities are aware of their condition, but they hope not to be defined entirely by it. They want people to recognize their personalities and talents.”
Miss Wong Siu Yin, a member of the Mental Health Association of Hong Kong in Kwun Tong, loves drawing and dreams of becoming a Zentangle instructor. In the intervention group promoted by Phyllis, she set feasible goals, identified difficulties, and found solutions. “Her goal was to teach other workshop colleagues to draw, but the challenge was finding a time when everyone was free. Through meetings with social workers and colleagues, she set a time and eventually succeeded in starting a class to teach Zentangle drawing to her colleagues. She even participated in a public education event later at Central Market, teaching the public on-site.” Achieving her goal brought joy to the users and affirmed the long-term efforts of Phyllis’ team.
According to the Census and Statistics Department data at the end of 2022, there are about 77,000 to 90,000 people with intellectual disabilities in Hong Kong. Through this project, Phyllis connected with seven partner organizations, including Caritas Hong Kong, Hong Chi Association, Lok Chi Association, the Mental Health Association of Hong Kong, The Hong Kong Down Syndrome Association, the Neighbourhood Advice-Action Council, and Wai Ji Christian Service, aiming to promote the electronic resource platform and APP further.
“Self-determination is a right for everyone, including friends with intellectual disabilities. Speaking up for oneself is an innate need for everyone, which doesn’t necessarily have to be verbal; it can also be expressed through eye contact or nodding.” Phyllis hopes that the public can view people with intellectual disabilities with an open mind, respect their life choices, avoid overprotection or underestimation, and jointly create a self-determination-friendly environment, allowing everyone to use their wings to fly higher and further into the future.
Edit by: CUHK ORKTS and Huang Xiangkun (Calvin) – CUHK students (Global Studies), Inno-Ambassador
Aim Higher and Dream Bigger —
Co-creation Between Friends With Intellectual Disabilities and Social Welfare Organizations
Despite the poor weather on the day of the launch and sharing event last month, with the Observatory issuing yellow and red rainstorm warnings, over 400 people attended to witness the achievements. Both on and off stage, there was a palpable sense of excitement and satisfaction.
