The Taipei Association of Mentally Challenged Persons and the Yu-cheng Social Welfare Foundation hosted a Mother’s Day party yesterday to give physically and mentally challenged people the opportunity to express their gratitude to their mothers.
More than 400 students at the foundation’s development center for the physically and mentally challenged and members of their families were invited to take part.
The students performed songs, dances and plays, and presented flowers to their mothers in a show of gratitude for their parents’ hard work and sacrifice in taking care of them.
Chen Yi-ju (陳怡如), head of the Yu-cheng Social Welfare Foundation’s publicity department, said that most people give their mothers a gift on Mother’s Day to express their gratitude, but for mentally and physically challenged people the day is particularly significant because of the vital role that their mothers play in their lives.
“Apart from coping with the heavy burden of raising a child who is physically or mentally challenged, mothers also endure strange looks from other members of the public when they are out with their children,” she said.
Chen said she hoped that by holding such activities and through media coverage of the events, the gap between challenged individuals and members of the general public would narrow.
Students and teachers at the development center worked tirelessly to create a lively atmosphere and make sure the performances went off without a hitch.
Among the performers was Chang Yu-wen (張毓文), a student at the center who courageously fought his shyness and went on stage to sing famous Taiwanese rock singer Wubai’s (伍佰) ballad You Are My Flower, to express his gratitude to, and love for, his mother.
The performance was just one of many moving moments during the day that ended with a group performance by the development center faculty and students of popular Taiwanese song Mother’s Hand, to the delight of all the participants.
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