Two new articles on special needs awareness and bipolar disorder on Awakening Minds.sg

Dear Everyone:

As part of my New Year's resolution to use Awakening Minds as an active platform for challenging society's awareness about individuals with special needs and mental illnesses in 2010, I have resolved to send out regular email updates with at least one new article uploaded to the Website each month.

For this particular email update, I would like to highlight the changes and additions to my Website:

1. "Special People and Us" by Choo Kah Ying [www.awakeningminds.sg (Media tab)]: I was inspired to write this article after catching a snippet of a Channel 8 drama serial that featured children with special needs. In this scene, the conversation between an older woman and her daughter concerning the latter's daughter with special needs illuminated society's unchallenged assumptions that people with special needs are burdens who rob their caregivers of any prospect of happiness in life. I sought to challenge this assumption in my article.

2. "Opening Hearts, Awakening Minds" by Nurraihan Hamid (published in People's Trends, December 2009) [www.awakeningminds.sg (Media tab)]: Ms. Hamid decided to do a story about my journey of recovery from manic depression after attending my talk at the Singapore Writers' Festival. Her article offers one of the best concise descriptions of my experiences of depression and mania with details about the origins of my illness and my current work as a homeschooler/writer/ educator and my physical and mental health regimen. I am greatly appreciative of her willingness to let me upload the article to the Website.

3. There are also new and updated talks and workshops for both Education and Mental Wellness [www.awakeningminds.sg (Education Tab) (Mental Wellness Tab)]. In my latest changes to my workshop selection, I am reaching out to caregivers and professionals of typical individuals, as well as the learners themselves. The strategies and learning approaches that I have developed, modified and used in the area of special needs can also be applied (with creative modifications) for typical learners.

In the area of mental wellness, I hope to motivate caregivers and professionals to cater to the cultivation of mental well-being of typical learners. The new workshops are also targeted directly at typical learners to encourage them to focus on their mental and psychological well-being.

I hope that you will take the time out to check out all of these updates and be motivated to awaken your minds and open your hearts to people with special needs.

Best regards,

Kah Ying

+6581634509