SCU Resource Room Students Voice Against Gender-Based Violence

Experts and advocates spoke out for gender equality on September 26^th and 27^th at the 2^nd Asia-Pacific Summit on Gender-Based Violence at the GIS MOTC Convention Center, as participants including three physically challenged students from Soochow University’s Resources Room, also expressed their opinions from their perspectives.

Under a theme of “Time’s up - Integrated Strategies and Innovative Advocacy against Gender-based Violence,” Taiwan Coalition Against Violence, the summit’s organizer, strived to keep up with the spirit of “leaving no one behind.” Not only issues such as elderly care, adolescents, the prevention of male violence, and the role of new media were discussed, but people with disabilities were also invited to join the discussions, bringing to the event a rich diversity of voices.

Participating in the talks were three challenged students from Soochow University, including Chinese literature major Po-Hung Shen (沈柏鴻) and law major Shih-Peng Wang (王士朋), both of whom are visually impaired, as well as sociology major Wan-Lun Yen (顏莞倫), who is hearing-impaired. They were invited mainly because a microfilm “mLove” (微顯，危險！), which was made by the students of Soochow’s Resource Room, and received honorable mention and the popularity award in the 2016 Ministry of Health and Welfare Fighting Against Gender-Based Violence Creative Competition.

Besides presenting a report on the prevention of adolescent gender-based violence, Shen, Wang and Yen, as people with disabilities, shared their worries about facility accessibility and the improvement toward a more friendly environment and more social resources for people with disabilities. They left a deep impression and won applause from the audience and guests from Taiwan, Japan, Korea, China, Hong Kong, Macau, as well as many Southeast Asian countries, many of whom asked follow-up questions and praised the students for their dedication and hard work.

The faculty and staff of Soochow’s Health and Counseling Center were truly proud of the three students for accepting their limitations and becoming a voice for the underprivileged. Through their actions, they have demonstrated their courage and determination to stand in front of the world and make their voices heard.

According to the United Nations, one in three women worldwide have experienced either physical or sexual violence from an intimate partner. Over the past few years, protests against violence against women have been happening around the globe, from the viral movement “#MeToo” in 2017 to the “Time’s Up” movement at the 2018 Grammy Awards.