a. Project Goals:

To connect with the disabled community and spread awareness to our peers as well as encourage the disabled community to express themselves and through art and/or wirting.

b. Fund-raising support & Other external sponsorship:

As the funds mostly focused on printing, our group and our volunteers chipped in for goodies, food, stationary and prizes and will be reimbursed by Infrastructure University Kuala Lumpur (IUKL).

c. Project Implementation:

1. 1st September 2023 :
   - Meeting with BGF Petaling Jaya HQ’s admin to discuss the suitability of topics and activities and confirmation for number of people in attendance.
   - Discussed agreed date to do workshop.
   - Finding volunteers to join workshop. (Done throughout the month)

2. 27th September 2023: 
   - Meeting with BGF Puchong branch’s admin to discuss topics, activities and confirmation for number of people in      attendance.
   - Discussed agreed date to do workshop.

3. 3rd October 2023:
   - Gathering the volunteers and briefing them on what to do during the 1st workshop.
   - Sharing prompts and doing ice breaker activities with volunteers to prepare for the 1st workshop.

4. 4th October 2023:
   - Day of workshop with BGF Petaling Jaya HQ.

5. 12th October 2023:
   - Briefing the volunteers about the 2nd workshop.
   - Doing examples for the prompts to show the workshop attendees.

6. 13th October 2023:
   - Day of workhop for BGF Puchong

7. 10th November 2023:
   - Main team discuss the book launch event.
   - Planning for book and book launch.
   - Dividing responsibilities for event.

8. 22nd November 2023:
   - Sending out invitations.

9. 27th November 2023:
   - Organizing the event space.
   - Rehearsal fro book launch event.
   - Printing of 20 books.

10. 28th November 2023:
    - Book launch event and screening of interviews.

d. Difficulties:

- For both workshops, there was an unexpected lack of participants. Although we were told there would be around 20 participants from the Petaling Jaya Headquarters and 30 from the Puchong branch, only half came for both totalling to 25 participants.

- Due to the programme being held mid semester, we had less translators for the first workshop which caused our primary Chinese translator to be overworked on the first day.

- Unexpected camera issues made us lose footage from the second day of workshop and book launch event.

- The university bursary took a while to respond to the transfering of funds for printing. Then we later foundout that Starfish Foundation had mistakenly transferred our funds, thus we had to wait for them to transfer and then wait for bursary to transfer it to us. Due to this, printing was not able to be done on time. To compensate for this, we had printed 10 extra copies outside of Starfish funds so that we could present them on the day of book launch.

e. Language or cultural barriers:

The Petaling Jaya Headquarters had mostly Chinese members and unfortunately on that day, we only had one translator with us. One of the staff had also helped to translate. The Puchong branch was diverse and even had a Korean boy who would show us certain Korean words. It was a new challenge interacting with the Puchong branch attendees as their disabilities were on the mental side which required patience and attention. Nevertheless, we managed to adapt to the situations.

f. What worked and what didn't:

The way we gathered information and interacted with the participants worked well. Despite not having prior experience with volunteering for disabled people, it was easy and fun to speak and interact with the people as it made us bond with them whcih made the book, video and event more personal. Volunteers were all cooperative despite having to balance with schoolwork as we even managed to do samples to show as examples to the participants of the workshops which proved to be worthwhile as they gathered indpiration form them.

On the other hand, we should have visited the branches before the project started even if our project was not greenlit as it would have given more insight on what to expect. Originally, we had planned to teach the participants how to express through writing and art, however, majority of them preferred to to do art especially the people from the Puchong Branch, thus it changed the image of our book which then also changed the printing prices. Due to the clear favour towards arts rather than writing, the participants use an abundance of colour which then changed the price of printing comapred to what was proposed. Though the quantity is lesser than expected, the quality was better as the book became more lively and personal.

Also worth mentioning that, in our original proposal, we suggested the selling of books to raise money for Beautiful Gate Foundation, however, midway through our programme, our university advised us to not proceed with selling as the legality was unclear. Thus, Beautiful Gate Foundation were given the choice to whether sell their half of the books or give them away to potential partners.

g. Beneficiaries:

The main goal was to raise awareness for disabled people. The beneficiaries include the participants from Beautiful Gate Foundation, the volunteers and book launch attendees. The aim of the workshop was to encourage the participants to have a platform where they can express themselves through art or writing. The 25 participants from the foundation were able to express and share a part of themselves through our workshop as well as allow us to understand their disability and their general self. A handful of them also did interviews with our interview crew which is then screened on the day of book launch for the book attendees to connect with the participants more as well as introduce them to different experiences and to Beautiful Gate Foundation. The volunteers also benefitted by being exposed to how to interact with the community as well as bond with them, gaining new experience.

h. Post Project:

The product of the workshop is 180 copies of books, with 10 extra copies, as well a soft copy of the product. The hardcopies is seen as archive and can be shared and spread depending on Beautiful Gate Foundation's choice to do with it as our Univeristy does. Some hardcopies have been shared with collaborators of our university such as when the third year Architecture students went to visit Penang, the book was one of the thank you gifts shared to a firm they visited. Soft copies are also easier to share as well as sustainable, one of our supervisors had shared the soft copy version of the book to NGOS she had met at the KL UCCR workshop 2024. We believe that as long as we encourage the existence of the book and the project, our hardwork will have impacted and fulfilled its goal. 

As this was our first attempt at a project like this, it is in our interest to continue a project like this as if to do a series of books for people of different background and experiences. Although, the future of this project is yet to be determined as we will have to find a new team to pass it on to.

a. i. How does or will your project contribute to happiness? Short-term? Long-term?

For short-term, it had caused a lot of joy for both volunteers and participants as we got to know each other better. We had felt comfortable and enjoyed our time together, the admin of both branches had told us it was encouraged for people to come and volunteer as it is nice to have visitors that were interested in understanding and spending time with their community.

For long-term, we hope that all the information that we had gathered and shared will be kept in the hearts and minds of the beneficiaries. That when they interact with the disabled community, they would be reminded of our book and book launch event day wherer we saw the vulnerable as well as the strengths of the community. A soft copy or hard copy of the book can go a long way and can be shared for long-term.

Overall, for short-term, we provided comfort and gained experience from spending time with the community whereas for long-term, this project shares ways that the community can continue to express themselves as and encourages them to do so as well as the comfort to share their stories.

ii. Has your project changed the way you think about the world? How has it changed you?

During the earlier process of the project, I had revealed that this project was inspired by the lack of care for the people with disabilities aorund me, specifically with mental disabilities because compared to physical, they can not be seen and thus is deemed as 'not real'. When doing this project, we had met people with different backgrounds, different strengths, weaknesses and different disabilities. Connecting with these people shared inisight with how they handle and see themselves. Beautiful Gate Foundation encourages their community to work and learn so it was eye-opening to see this community push through to work and learn hard despite their disabilities. It makes one think back to their own strengths and how much we can do.

It is worth mentioning that this project wanted to acknowledge various disabilities and let them express themselves with us only as a platform. It was important to convey what they wanted to to convey beacuse we wanted them to be heard and seen. Thus, It has changed me in terms of relief. For so long the people around me who are still unsure and undiagnosed about their own mental disabilities due to lack of care from the adults in their life has made me feel upset and frustrated that no one would listen to them. It is a relief to see that there are foundations that treat the disabled community as human and abled and want to help them be heard as well as sachieve their goals. It is a relief that their disabilities are taken seriously wether it is a severe or not.

b. "If we all have the want to listen and understand to others no matter their race, background, or ability, we would be a unified community." - Qistina

"This is a great project for that gives disable people a chance to prove themselves. This Is Me is showed me the world through the disabled people’s eyes. It made me appreciate human’s ability to persevere through any challenges." - Caitlin

"I believe our project allow people to see unique perspectives of disable people and personally meeting them is more meaningful than learning about them through books." - Hafizah

"Through this project, witnessing the lives of disabled individuals has taught me that nothing is impossible. Their determined mindset is a powerful demonstration of human resilience in overcoming adversity." - Zhi Hua