Hong Kong student with cerebral palsy draws on her determined character to sketch out calligraphy dream

Clutching a brush with four fingers and wearing a smile across her face, student Ali Faria Hussain calmly and elegantly scribes four Chinese calligraphy characters – no small feat for someone with cerebral palsy. The Form Six student from Hong Kong Red Cross Margaret Trench School, for pupils with physical disabilities, has written out the Chinese idiom meaning “being good and seeking improvement”. Hong Kong-born and raised, Hussain, 18, speaks fluent Cantonese. She comes from a Pakistani family. Her father runs a Pakistani restaurant in Sham Shui Po, while her mother takes care of Hussain and three other children at home. Hussain was nine months old when she was diagnosed with right hemiplegic cerebral palsy – a condition which leaves the right side of her body in a state of general weakness – after her parents noticed she could not sit still. Because of her conditions, Hussain has difficulties performing daily tasks and sometimes faces discrimination, but she remains positive. “One day I helped my mum go out to buy something and when it was my turn to pay money at the cashier, I heard the man standing behind me yelling at me because I was slow,” she says. “But after I explained to him about my condition, he understood.” To her, discrimination comes from people’s unawareness of her conditions, and as long as she has the patience to explain to them, they will understand, she says. Like her positive attitude towards life, she has never let her physical conditions stop her from pursuing her main interest – Chinese calligraphy. She developed her fascination with the visual art two years ago. She recalls feeling inspired seeing a man in Mong Kok with no arms using his foot to write calligraphy. “I was thinking ‘if he could overcome his disabilities and excel in calligraphy, why couldn’t I?’” she says. Hussain started learning calligraphy through a schoolteacher. But her weak right hand made it hard for her to even hold an ink brush, so she used her left hand to write. How these cutting-edge glasses are helping Hong Kong’s short-sighted children For the first several months, she practised using the brush to draw lines and circles on paper, before starting to form characters. She writes calligraphy in the style of seal script, an ancient style of writing Chinese characters. The shape of the characters in this style appears rectangular, with the use of a curved brush – which she likens to drawing. To improve her writing, the tenacious teenager works hard. She has also been practising calligraphy with her right hand. Over the past summer holiday, she completed over 150 papers of writing, with 60 characters on each paper. “If you truly love to do something, you won’t find it difficult,” she says. Apart from making rapid progress in writing, Hussain has also improved her Chinese through calligraphy. She likes writing four-character Chinese idioms. The Hong Kong magician inspired by a French author and Canto-pop She wrote one that champions the principle of doing everything within your ability to take care of your parents, and gave it to her father as a gift. The hard work is paying off. Hussain’s calligraphy works were selected and displayed at an exhibition in August organised by non-profit organisation Hong Chi Association, which supports those with intellectual disabilities. She was the winner of a programme Superhero dedicated to support children and teenagers to pursue their dreams last year. An outgoing person in daily life, Hussain likes helping others and is seen as a big sister to her classmates. Outside school, she frequently volunteers in the community, visiting elderly care homes and special kindergartens. Despite her physical disabilities, she loves sports, such as running, table tennis and badminton. She is the first student of her school to complete 10km in this year’s Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon. Subsidised hostels struggle to care for mentally disabled youth Candy Au Ka-yan, Hussain’s liberal studies teacher who has known her for five years, says she is happy to see the big changes in her student. “In her pursuit of her dream, she was at a loss for a time at first when she was overwhelmed with studies and activities, but she has overcome the difficulties and persevered. She has also grown into a strong and persistent person,” she says. Hussain will next year sit Hong Kong’s university entrance exam, Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE), and she hopes to score high and enter university. She says her aim is to carve out a career as a calligrapher. “I hope my dream will come true,” she says.

Hong Kong student with cerebral palsy draws on her determined character to sketch out calligraphy dream

Ali Faria Hussain, 18, refuses to let condition stand in the way of her passion She also publicly challenges discrimination, gently explaining to one impatient shopper why she was being slow at checkout

Ali Faria Hussain, 18, refuses to let condition stand in the way of her passion

She also publicly challenges discrimination, gently explaining to one impatient shopper why she was being slow at checkout