Joselin (or JoJo, as I call her) is a good friend whom I connected with in 2017. I got to know her at that time because her mum wanted to engage me to go to Medan to coach her in basketball. At that time, I thought I was going to be coaching basketball for an 11-year-old with Autism. Never did I imagine that I would be meeting and working with someone who is of my age.
In 2017, when Forest School Singapore (FSS) was undergoing a suspension imposed by NParks, JoJo suggested the idea of doing FS in Indonesia (Medan) instead. Our relationship at that time evolved from just regular coaching contact to that of a business partner and friend.
My first time meeting her was when she picked me up at the airport and we took a 2-hour drive to my accommodation. It was an awkward 2 hours initially… Then we started sharing and discussing our educator’s journey and understanding of Autism and Special Needs… And the rest as they say, is history.
Throughout the past 8 years, we would visit each other in Singapore and Indonesia every few months. In those times, we chatted deeply about many different situations and ideas. We started the first Forest School in Indonesia, which JoJo led almost single-handedly.
Joselin was diagnosed with Autism when she was 29 months old. She has various other conditions that created immense challenges that most of us would not be able to fathom. From that point on, she grew up with lots of therapy and treatments, while adjusting to the various effects of her conditions. Without a doubt, her family also made many adjustments and adaptations to accommodate and empower her to how she is now.
Her full stories would probably require a whole book to truly make sense of and understand.
Jojo has high oral hypersensitivity due to her Apraxia condition. This is something that causes her to have a hard time with the usage of the muscles of her mouth. Imagine having difficulty with putting food in the mouth and chewing because of the uncomfortable sensation of items in the mouth. This also led to her verbalisation challenges that affected her communication with others. She also has a tongue tie, but her mum refused to treat the tongue tie by surgery to cut the layers of her tongue, because Jojo was a young and tiny premature baby then. Her mum chose speech and feeding therapy instead, so as to slowly work on her condition.
Many folks who see her wouldn’t be able to imagine that she has all these conditions even till this date. This shows how well she has adjusted to the stressful triggers of her conditions. It is not that it doesn’t affect her – it is that she has learnt and found ways to manage these effects and regulate them, especially when she is outside. I know that at times she would release that difficult energy when she is at home by herself or with her family members. She has been known to bite herself and get into fierce meltdowns too. She is apparently very strong and has high pain tolerance.
When she was in her 20s, she had an episode with a speech therapy centre, where they actually pinned her down with 9 men, and they stabbed her foot with a sharp pencil and a small tool (that paramedics use to test for sensory or pain endurance). They then pulled her tongue with their hand, tearing it badly, causing JoJo to have to endure weeks of excruciating pain in her mouth. The speech therapy centre boss and staff (who are obviously not competent) say that it is a treatment for her condition.
Jojo shared with us this story so calmly, even though many of us who were listening to this story were cringing and tearing already.
And yet amongst all these, so often because of her ability to converse, live a “normal” life, take bus, drive (in Indonesia traffic), teach, coach and enjoy life… Many people in Indonesia (and I believe in Singapore), would discredit Jojo, by saying that she is doesn’t have a severe condition or even that she is faking it.
Jojo and her family have dealt with these accusations so often that they handle such smearing and discrediting with so much calmness.
Jojo has a huge heart for children and education. She is a tuition teacher and a swimming coach in Medan. She loves working with children, and also tries her best to guide parents through their anxieties.
I remember when we first started Forest School in Medan, we went to a River/Forest space in Indonesia to do training, where I guided Jojo in the FS ways. She struggled with the sensorial effect of trudging through wet grass and patches. She always likes to joke to others that I just “throw her into the fire” and let her float by herself that time. But hell, she came through strongly. She told me that she managed and fought through her sensorial challenges, because the notion of being able to help and work with children positively with the FS ways really motivated her.
It was a sense of purpose for the welfare of children that drove her to go beyond her difficulties.
For many years, I’ve been trying to convince Jojo to publicly share her knowledge about Special Needs. It’s not just because she lived through her life having such needs, but also because she studied Clinical Psychology at University, and she has deep interest in the subject. She could verbalise and explain deep understanding of special needs with an angle that most people could understand even though she is not a psychologist.
But Jojo resisted this notion for a very long time, as she didn’t want to give unrealistic hope to parents about the possibilities for their special needs’ kids. She knows just how much effort, work and blessing it takes to get to where she is today.
She also doesn’t want to be exploiting the situation and current scene. We discuss these issues a lot whenever we meet.
However, throughout the past 8 years of Forest School, almost all of our severe Autistic or special needs children’s issues have been run through Jojo. I will run the cases and issues through Jojo when I meet her, seeking her wisdom and counsel. She is so good at identifying the real issues of the cases. It is 100% accurate, even though sometimes people resist the truth.
Early this year (2024), Jojo finally approached me to discuss the possibility of a public sharing. I am so elated by this, because I know that many special needs’ children and families would finally be able to receive real help that would be able to light up the paths for them. It has been a struggle to see so many of our precious children and parents break, fall off and lose to the hard, over-grinding society that we live in.
Jojo has been a huge inspiration for me and the whole Forest School Singapore community (for those who have met her). Thank you Jojo for being yourself. I know this article probably isn’t able to fully show who she is (because there are just so many stories and wisdom shared in our time together), but I hope that this would provide a glimpse into the possible future for all our special needs’ kids and individuals.
I know Jojo doesn’t want to give unrealistic hope. But I hope… I hope that our world can be better. I hope that our precious Specialness can be embraced… I hope…
Written by : Darren Quek
Approved by : Joselin & her mum
Editted by : Wei Shimin
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