AUGUST 2ND-5TH, 2022
Written by Supanut Leepaisomboon
LLB07, Faculty of Law, Thammasat University – Tha Prachan Campus
Contents
Introduction
Towards the start of every academic year, there would be a welcome event (or rub nong (รับน้อง) as it is known in Thai), to welcome new students to the university. Thammasat University is no exception; every year this kind of activity takes place, usually around the end of July and the first week of August.
In the case of Thammasat University, for new students with disabilities, the Disability Support Service, shortened as ‘DSS’ also organizes a welcome event on a yearly basis especially designed for new students with disabilities. The main idea behind a specific welcome event for this group of students is that students with disabilities often have special needs and requirements that in a normal welcome event, such as those organized by each faculty, would not be addressed. This could include things like services offered by the DSS, and also learning how to navigate the campus (especially using the white cane for students who are blind or visually impaired).
This year, I was very fortunate to be able to attend this event and be formally welcomed by the DSS. Even though I’m in my third year, I have not yet been formally welcomed to Thammasat University by DSS. This event provided me a great opportunity to make new friends and to network with fellow students with disabilities.
This diary will lay out my experience throughout this event, which ran from August 2nd to August 5th, 2022. Here are the highlights from each day:
Day 1: Getting new students registered for their classes and a speech about college
life, tour of the Learning Center and the Puey Ungphakorn Library
Day 2: Tour of the Rangsit Campus by both electric bus and on foot, an overview of the
TU050 and TU105 English language courses
Day 3: A welcome event and orientation for students who joined Thammasat University
through special programs (including students with disabilities)
Day 4: An overview of the TU104 Thai language course, services offered by the DSS, and
an overview of other general education courses
2 August 2022
Wait, another diary, another residential trip already? Well no. Writing the diary was actually one of the activities (as I will describe later) so I thought it makes sense I do the same. Moreover, this series of activities (which spanned multiple days by the way) is pretty similar to a residential trip in that each day the activities differ, and of course the activities spanned multiple days as just mentioned.
This series of activities formed the main event, which is the new students with disabilities preparation (from now-on I will refer to this main event as the ‘welcome event’ or simply just ‘this event’). This event is organized by the Disability Support Service (DSS) of Thammasat University. In theory it is opened to students with disabilities from all campuses of Thammasat University, in practice I was the only participating student from Tha Prachan Campus (the rest were students of the Rangsit Campus, which is where the DSS is located by the way). In short, this event is essentially a freshmen orientation aimed specifically at freshmen with disabilities. There were students who are blind like me, and also quite a number of students in wheelchairs. But what was kind of cool is that the two Thammasat students who went to Chiang Rai with me also participated in this event.
I know, most of you would probably be wondering why do I attend this event given that I’m now in my third year? Well, the answer is that I didn’t have the opportunity to attend this event when I was a freshman (this event didn’t take place back then thanks to COVID despite the fact that on-campus classes took place and I even attended a similar event at my faculty (both the Tha Prachan and the Rangsit campuses). So this essentially means that I haven’t yet been given a formal welcome by DSS, ever since I started my second bachelors degree here at Thammasat University.
The welcome event ran from August 2nd to August 5th, 2022, with the main venue for activities being the DSS itself, located at the Office of the Rector building inside of Thammasat University’s Rangsit Campus. Given that I do not study at the Rangsit Campus and thus I do not have any accommodations rented beforehand, I have no choice but to travel back and forth between home and the Rangsit Campus (which is pretty tiring by the way). What also doesn’t help is that I was only notified of this event on the 29th of July, wwhich was just four days before the welcome event and so I didn’t have time to get my dad to look for any potential accommodations (or most likely, any potential accommodations would’ve been full already). Had I known about this event much earlier, say around mid July, there would’ve been enough time to look for potential accommmodations and it is likely that some would still be available.
In order to get to Rangsit Campus from my house, there are two possible routes. The first route is to get to Bang Sue Grand Station and take the Red Line train to Rangsit Station, followed by taxi or something to the Rangsit Campus. The second option is to take the BTS at Bangchak Station (which is where my house is located close to) to Yaek Kor Por Aor Station followed by a taxi to get to Rangsit Campus. For the first day of this event I decided to take the first option, with my dad dropping me off at Bang Sue Grand Station. This option would prove to be a pretty poor option because (1) the Red Line train somehow suffered delays plus the train seems to run quite slow when approaching the Rangsit Station. Also once at the Rangsit Station, somehow rather than getting a taxi the security guard who helped me out decided to get me on a songthaew which, although it stopped at the Rangsit Campus, it didn’t go inside so I have to get a taxi to go further inside to the main venue for the welcome event. All in all the journey from home to DSS took more than two hours.
Once at the DSS, I was greeted by one of the DSS staff and immediately taken to the registration table where the organizers helped fill out my details and I was given a pink name tag which, I think, was meant for staff but since I was a junior I was given it instead of the one for regular freshman participants. Though rapid antigent tests were performed on-site, I asked my mom to test me the night before, thinking that I would probably need to show the test result. And since I already perform the rappid antigent test, I can just show the result to the organizers.
The main event began around 8:30AM or 9AM I believe, butt in reality it didn’t began until much later. The first thing was to get all the participating freshmen registered for their classes. It was pretty interesting to be able to observe this process unfold in realtime. Quite a good number of students couldn’t register all of their classes because their preferred sections was full. This truly brought back memories of my experience during my second semester at Mahidol University International College (MUIC). Back then I couldn’t get all classes registered because the sections I want wer full and I still remember having to go through all sorts of pain to get all the classes I want registered. The computer lab was pretty much the main room for the event, though as I will explain later in this diary some activities took place at other locations.
But once all of that was done, the welcome event officially began with some opening statements and greetings by DSS staff, followed by a short talk from an alumni (if I remembered correctly) about things like adapting to college life, grades, honors and whatnot.
Lunch was around noon and the food was actually not too bad. I can’t remember now what I ate but it, along with all the meals at this event, was somewhat better compared with the meals during the Chiang Rai residential trip.
Afternoon was the tour of the Rangsit Campus’s learning center and also the Puey Ungphakorn Library. Although, I think, we didn’t actually tour the whole of the learning center; a lot of the time spent there was in the theater room where the library staff explained about the library itself. Though some details were specific to the Puey Ungphakorn Library, there were some more general details applicable to all of Thammasat University’s libraries, and some of them that I didn’t even know about, like a service that lets you request the library to find full texts of any journal articles (this is separate from the online databases that I’ve been using for some time already). The learning center itself was quite large by the way.
The Puey Ungphakorn Library was huge! There were lots and lots of sitting areas as well as other smaller areas; it was so big that we couldn’t cover the entire library. Think about it, the library was its own building, separate from everything else. I think we only had time to explore both the first and the second floor, though the library has four floors. Once we were on the second floor we had some time to sit down and rest and so I spent this time talking to some of the new people that I’ve met. At one point the girl in a wheelchair who went to Chiang Rai with me in late June was having some issues with her wheelchair or something and someone tried to fix it or at least tried to tinker with it but I think it didn’t really work somehow so yeah.
After the learning center and the library tour, it’s back to DSS where we had quite a good amount of free time. I spent much of this time hanging out with the new people I’ve met, both outside and also inside a relax room next to the main computer lab. The library and the learning center tour was actually the final activity from DSS itself, though as I will describe shortly there were evening activities too but organized by more senior students and volunteers.
Dinner was around 6PM or so I believe. After that it’s on to the evening activities, organized by the older, more senior students. The activities were pretty much typical of the freshmen welcoming activities with games, dancing and whatnot. And also, we were divided up into colored teams. There were four teams – blue, yellow, pink and the so called ‘senior land’ made up of seniors (presumably fourth year students) and alumnis. I chose to be in the blue team because…I like the blue color.
Oh yeah there was one particular activity of note. I’m not sure what I t’s called or whether it even has a proper name but…essentially this activity involves someone in the center of the circle approaching someone and asking for love. If that person says ‘yes’, then the person to the immediate left and right must move. If the answer is ‘no’, then that person must give out the qualification of a person or persons that he or she loves and…anyone matching the qualification being called out must move. Sounds familiar? Well if you’ve been reading my Chiang Rai trip diary this would definitely sound familiar because…there was a similar activity in Chiang Rai, just that in Chiang Rai the person at the center of the circle only has to say out a qualification rather than trying to ask for love. I was forced to move maybe a few times but luckily I never end up in the center. Otherwise I’d be out for revenge for sure by…you guessed it, creating chaos by forcing everyone to move around. This could be done by rejecting love from the person at the center of the circle and then just call out something that would ensure everyone moves, E.G anyone who has a negative COVID test.
Another activity of note is an activity where we were given a piece of paper and then we have to write down, draw, fold, or do whatever to represent ourselves. Since I don’t know what to do I just asked someone to write down some of my qualifications (resume style). In a way it actually represents a task that is actually critical for job applications and applications for further studies into higher levels like masters.
The final activity for the evening was the writing down of a diary entry for the day. Since I don’t have my laptop I decided not to participate (you can consider this diary that I’m writing now as a participation in that activity…this activity was the last activity for the day every day of this event, except the last day by the way). Another activity that I decided not to participate is an activity involve passing flour (or maybe it’s some other powdery stuff I’m not so sure) around. The main reason is that this activity can get pretty messy and since I’ll be traveling quite long distance I do not want to get that dirty. Once the diary entry writing activity is over, it was time to go home. Unlike in the morning, I decided to call Grab to take me straight home. This costed quite a lot but it’s the most convenient and also the fastest.
Overall the first day of the welcome event was great. I learned quite a number of things that I didn’t know before, especially the library services. The learning center and the library tour was pretty fun. The evening activities were quite fun too, and the food on the first day was not too bad.
3 August 2022
Second day of the welcome event. I decided to take the BTS this time, and…turns out it was a much, much better choice and the security guard actually helped get a taxi for me. But due to traffic jams I ended up arriving at DSS close to 8AM or something.
After I arrived I immediately asked for breakfast which was I think some rice with egg and stuff, can’t remember exactly. After breakfast it was time to head back inside the computer lab, though not for long this time.
The entirety of the morning was pretty much a university tour. The first segment was a tour on an electric bus to various locations around the Rangsit Campus, including the on-campus dorms. The many restaurants on campus (even including things like KFC) blew my mind away. There was even a small department store on campus. Yeah, a department store right on a university campus! This Rangsit Campus of Thammasat University is extremely huge! Originally we planned to use two busses but was told only one would be available so some of the older students stayed behind. I think freshmen was prioritized but I was allowed to go on a tour, mainly I think it was because I’m studying at a different campus. Fortunately the bus was air-conditioned so it was pretty comfortable.
The second segment of the university tour was the walking tour, using various footpaths and road crossings, though the areas we covered was obviously smaller. It was quite tiring, and the weather was also very hot. Unlike the bus tour where we covered some of the more remote parts of the campus, this time we mainly covered some of the buildings close to DSS, like some of the buildings where general education classes would be held. Before heading back to DSS we rested for a bit at a sitting area under one of the buildings on the tour program. For both the bus tour and the walking tour, both the DSS staff and also some of the older students helped to explain about the various locations we passed.
It was during the university tour that I learned about the busses running around the campus. There are six lines of busses running around the Rangsit Campus of Thammasat University, which is twice the number of tram lines running around Mahidol University. In the past, these busses ran on fossil fuels (petrol or gass) and they were non-air-conditioned, and possibly even non-wheelchair-friendly. But recently those older trams have been replaced with electric busses with air-conditioning and they are also wheelchair-friendly. The coverage of the electric busses is so good that I think not many places remain that are not reachable by an electric bus. I think there is even one stop within walking distance of the law faculty.
Once we got back to DSS, it was time for lunch. Once again the food was not overly bad. During lunch cold drinks, supposedly the drinks that people ordered in the morning, was being passed out. For some reason I didn’t get a chance to order so I was a bit upset but someone donated a cold chocolate drink to me so at least that was good. At one point I think someone spilled a cold tea or something…the smell of it pretty much drifted all over the place.
After lunch it’s time for the afternoon session, which was…an overview of the compulsory English classes that freshment would be taking. Those classes were…pretty much basic English, like…high school, primary school or even kindergarten English. This shows me one thing…the quality of English classes at Thai schools is awful, to the point that basic English classes would have to be offered and made compulsory at universities like this. Though it is possible to submit certain test scores to gain exemptions it seems that the students who is able to skip these English classes are a pretty small minority.
There were some activities related to these English classes too, and they were…pretty much basic English language activities like introducing ourselves and such. During these activities I can clearly observe that quite a good proportion of the participating freshmen do not have strong English skills. But just for fun I decided to participate anyway, demonstrating my fluency in English to everyone.
Other than the English language activities the speaker also gave out some university life tips, which of course isn’t anything new to me, given that I’ve been through one bachelors degree already from start to finish. I did, however, gave out one advice when the speaker asked the participants to give one piece of advice. The advice that I gave out was…”balance your life and maintain academic integrity”.
Once the afternoon session ended, it was once again free time until dinner, though I spent much of this time with my blue team, discussing the upcoming show that we all have to perform. I was given a role of a pretty minor character in the story, but that didn’t bother me since I don’t like performing in shows anyway.
Oh yeah I forgot to mention, throughout this event the student organizers have been letting out what they called a ‘virus’ which essentially is a small piece of paper with a word written on it. I don’t know how many was handed out each day though. In the evening anyone who still possesses a piece of paper containing a word on it must perform a dance. During the second day I was actually given two but through some smart tricks (which doesn’t quite conform to how this so called ‘virus’ is meant to be passed on) I managed to dispose both of them.
Dinner was a bit earlier than the first day, and once again the food was good. After that it was time for the evening activities. We played a few games I think, before each group performed their shows. The show cannot last more than ten minutes. My group managed to perform the show within around eight minutes or so, which was not as good as the other groups I suppose but that doesn’t seem to have any negative ramifications.
After the show I think it was straight to writing diary entries (or maybe there was a few more activities before that, I can’t remember exactly) and then it was time to head for home, and that marked the end of the second day of the welcome event.
Overall the second day was pretty fun, and I really enjoy the bus tour of the Rangsit Campus. The walking tour was probably the activity I like the least because it was so tiring and the weather was baking hot. The English language activities in the afternoon was pretty cool. The evening activities were as fun as usual.
4 August 2022
Third day of the welcome event. I would say I love the breakfast. It was sticky rice with fried pork and the fried fish thingy. It tasted so, so good.
Unlike the first and the second day, there were specific dress codes since…we would be joining students from other special programs for a formal orientation by the university. Specifically, freshmen have to wear a white shirt while staff students or carers wear gray shirts. I war a white shirt, thus blending myself in with other freshmen. Also, we have to perform another rappid COVID-19 test (using the painful nose swab thingy like in Chiang Rai) prior to joining with the other students.
The main orientation took place at a big lecture hall, which turned out to be the same lecture hall where the law faculty had its welcoming event back in August of 2020. In fact the main focus of the activities for the day were at the exact same building as the welcoming activities of the law faculty two years ago.
Once we got to the venue there was a bit of waiting before getting into the lecture hall. For much of the morning it was just llistening to speeches and also learning briefly about these special programs. There are actually five of them; the program for students with disabilities is one of them. The others include a program for students in the three southern border provinces, a program for students who participated in volunteer activities, a program for athletes, a program for excellent students in rural areas and a fifth program that I can’t remember what it’s called, at least in English but it’s for students living in thirty-eight provinces and Bangkok.
During the orientation the staff of each program also touched on briefly about scholarships and student loans. The loans are meant for students from lower-income families, though in theory those from high-income families could take advantage as well so to save on costs.
After the morning orientation it was lunch time. This time, the food was provided by the organizers of the joint orientation and welcoming activities for the five special programs. But the food was still good, and I also like the dessert, which was the sweet sugar-based dessert (I’m not sure whether this was provided by my program or by the organizers of this joint event).
After lunch we went back inside for some more orientation about the scholarships for one of the special programs. Basically students under this particular program would get some money to help support their studies but they have to do at least three activities (I can’t remember now whether that was for each semester or for the whole year). The session was more of like a Q&A session since the speaker doesn’t really speak much apart from responding to student questions.
After that, it was on to the fun activities provided by older students. All participants were divided into teams – A, B, C, D and E. There could be more teams but that was all I can remember. I was put into team C. Basically we have to go around to different locations in the building and do the activities at each.
The one activity that I kind of like is an activity where we have to through small balls into some baskets I think in order to gain points. Somehow my team won; I don’t know how but it happens. I don’t think I was even trying hard.
Another activity of note is the last activity before going back into the main lecture hall. This activity involves passing around a crumpled up paper ball made up of several pieces of paper. Basically when the music is playing participants have to pass down this paper ball but when the music stops the person who is in possession of the ball has to perform a task that was written on the paper. Sounds familiar again? Well that is because there was a similar activity during the Chiang Rai trip! And just like in Chiang Rai I was really lucky not to be the one having to do whatever that was written on the paper or ball since…it could be something I don’t like at all, like asking or confessing love to someone.
There was also another activity I want to talk about, and this was the activity right after the passing paper ball around activity. Basically this activity involves people passing down a phrase through the line. Effectively, this is like the simulation of a communication chain, and see how distorted the message would be at its final destination, compared to the original message.
The final joint activity was probably the second most emotionally-touching activity of the welcome event. We were basically taken to a room filled with candles and while the whole thing is being prepared someone played some songs that could actually bring people to tears. But once everyone was in the room we have to move around and being formally welcomed by older students. It was this moment that I realized…this kind of welcoming activity, not being confined to my faculty, is what I’ve been missing for the past two years. Though I’ve been formally welcomed by my faculty, back then I never had the chance to join any of the welcoming activities of the wider Thammasat University, including the one for students with disabilities. This is mainly because this event was not held two years ago, thanks to COVID, even though back then on-campus classes operated and there were even on-campus activities.
Oh and I forgot to mention, I received quite a number of prises throughout the day, such as pens, glues, a notebook, a folder, a shirt, and possibly some other items. But all items apart from the shirt are pretty useless for me since I don’t use them. But I guess I can keep them as souvenirs…
After that, it was back to DSS for dinner and on to the evening activities. Since the joint activities finished so late, dinner was also late and so the number of evening activities was reduced. I would also like to add that it was during the joint activities with the other special programs that I met around two other law students (from the Rangsit Campus of course).
There was one activity (I can’t remember whether it took place on the second or the third day, but I’ll just put it here nonetheless) which is basically the simulation of a taxi service. Basically someone has to be a taxi driver and then the other team members are passengers. Basically each passenger would be given a place but that person cannot straight up say out the place; the passenger has to give the taxi driver a clue and then the taxi driver has to guess. If the taxi driver don’t feel like guessing he or she can effectively kick out the passenger. The activity is time-limited. My blue team managed to get the taxi driver to go to ten places but…the reward was…to dance in front of everyone else. This was possibly the worst reward for a winner I’ve seen so far. After all of that if I can recall it was diary time once again and after that it was home time as usual.
The third day of the welcome event was great fun and also quite informative, especially regarding the other special programs that Thammasat University operates. The team-based activities in the afternoon were a lot of fun, and as I mentioned for one of them my team somehow won. The last joint activity was truly emotional, but…the last day would be even more; I’m not going to spoil it in this entry…sorry.
5 August 2022
Yesterday was the last day of the welcome event. This time, it was back to a more or less usual scheduling. Breakfast was good, although it would’ve been great if I could eat sticky rice with pork but…here’s the thing. The taxi driver was being stupid or something and I ended up getting kind of loss inside the campus and I didn’t arrive at DSS until like close to 8AM by which point the sticky rice and pork have ran out. I was kind of disappointed, especially the fact that this is something that is entirely avoidable, if the taxi driver knew where he was going or checked his GPS. Oh yeah I forgot, I finally managed to place an order for cold chocolate this time around.
But…anyways, after breakfast it was time for the morning session, which was about the compulsory Thai class. The full name is actually Critical Thinking, Reading and Writing. This is actually the same as the course being offered at LLB, but since this is the Thai program the course focuses on the Thai language instead, so that’s why this particular course is popularly known as the Thai language course. Unlike the English language course, this Thai language course is mainly just the speaker giving explanations with little to no activities so I ended up sleeping/napping at times.
After this, it was back to the DSS staff, giving more details about the available services. It was this time that I learned that DSS offers a free printing service for students with disabilities, for…however much the student desires. This is separate from the regular print quota provided by the university. This is simply great! Though in practice I don’t think I’ll need to use it but then, that begs the question. If I really need to print something, do I take chances with trying to get someone to print for me at Tha Prachan Campus, or do I travel all the way to Rangsit Campus for a guaranteed help in printing? I think, given that both campuses are so far apart, I will keep the Rangsit Campus option as the option of last resort.That is, if I absolutely cannot get help at Tha Prachan, only then that I would travel all the way to DSS at Rangsit.
There was one thing that I totally forgot to ask DSS, that is about the recommendations for accommodations on or close to the Rangsit Campus that can be rented temporarily. The reason that I would want to ask about this is because, if I do attend activities at the Rangsit Campus and these activities ran late into the night then I can just spend a night on campus or close by instead of having to spend time going back to home or my normal dorm. Though I do heard of an accommodation on campus where rooms can be booked in terms of days rather than months, and it is designed for parents staying over during the graduation ceremony and for students who do not yet have a permanent accommodation.
Lunch then followed, and…I must say I do not like the food on the last day. The food were mostly vegetables that I don’t like, so I ended up eating not that much. And since I’ve placed an order for cold chocolate earlier in the day, I finally got to drink my own, without having to drink someone else’s.
Afternoon was much of the same as the morning, but this time the main focus of the orientation was the rest of the general education courses that freshmen have to take. The speaker didn’t speak much though and the session became more like a Q&A session where participants can ask questions.
After that it was more or less free time until 4:30PM or so and the emcee decided to have like a fun dance/karaoke session. It was pretty fun, though I didn’t really participate much. I did however, asked to have a photo of me taken just outside the computer lab and I also asked for the photo of the DSS sign outside the computer lab to be taken too.
At around 4:30PM we all went to a building used for club activities and into like a lounge room or something, where the emcee gave explanations of a club (I don’t know the proper English name, but I guess the club name can be translated as ‘Friends of Dome Connect’). From what I heard and also from the short video presentation, this is a really interesting club, with lots of residential trips. And the cool thing is that this club aims to be fully inclusive from the start, meaning that if I decided to sign up for a residential trip there shouldn’t be that much trouble, if indeed I decided to take up such opportunity, which I probably would.
This club also organizes a residential trip into the remote mountains towards the end of the calendar year, which sounds fun although I heard the accommodation would not be all that fancy. I also heard that there’s a residential trip coming soon, so that’s one thing I have to keep an eye out for and see how to go about signing up. This would be the opportunity to see whether it is really easy to join one of these residential trips. So…this means that a second residential trip this year is a real possibility, but whether that hope will actually materialize is a different matter.
After that…came the segment that’s absolutely emotionally-touching; even more so than the final joint activity on the third day. Basically there were some speeches given by the older students of the staff team and we were all asked to give our feelings and it’s around this point that proved to be extremely emotionally-touching; even managed to bring me to tears. Normally I’m a pretty tough person who don’t cry so easily but this particular segment proved too strong for me. Yep, this is the segment that I’ve been teasing in the last entry.
After that, came the diary writing activity which was surprisingly early. Though I was finally given an opportunity to write something I decided not to since I was not in the mood to do so and, given that I would be writing this diary back home anyway so what’s the point of doing it at the welcome event.
Also at this point there was one girl who is in the same year as me but different faculty that came over to me. She was the one that have been taking care of me on and off throughout the welcome event, though not all the time, at least compared to my new best friend during the Chiang Rai trip. In the end I think she realized that I was sobbing or crying or whatever and so she comforted me and we hugged each other. It was absolutely wonderful and we had a chance to chat for quite a bit. That really left a strong positive impression of this particular girl on me and…I do think, she is on track to becoming my next best friend. To be honest I initially thought of writing a dedicated diary entry for her but I decided not to do so since, she is not my dedicated buddy and…I’ve decided to reserve the special last diary entry for those who had been my dedicated buddy throughout the whole event or trip. In addition, such person must also leave a very, very strong positive impression on me by…trying his or her best to make friends with me and is always there to help me whenever I need.
Oh yeah I forgot, after this everyone had an opportunity to write a special message to anyone so…I decided to address something to my fellow LLB students. I think I’ll go into detail and further expand on what I wrote later, maybe as dedicated paragraph(s) at the very end of this entry…
Next came dinner and…oh boy, dinner yesterday was awesome. It was Japanese food, with the choice of things like fish, pork and chicken. I chose fish. Rather than going back to DSS, we just ate dinner right there at the activities building.
After dinner, we had a bit of free time, before it was time to head back to DSS for the last evening session. The first activity involves freshmen being blindfolded (including me) and sitting in front of the older students with candle flames behind. The older students in front of us sang some songs (which I believe to be the songs of the university). After a little while we were finally allowed to take off our blindfolds. And then…came the pretty tiring part. Each of us has to go around and let the older students wrap some string thingy around our arms and…since there were lots of them this ended up being a process that dragged on for quite some time.
After that…somehow the emcee feels like driving us to exhaustion, so they decided to make us dance quite…a lot and eventually a number of strings I received came loose so I decided to try to take out the ones I was able to take out and put it in a bag that was eventually given as a souvenir.
And, once all of that was over, I was finally able to take more photos, namely, I took photos with my blue team, and also with the third year girl who helped comfort me earlier and the two law students who also attended the welcocme event. By this point it was already past 10PM. After the photos it was finally time to go home but not before I eventually learned that I forgot my wallet and…guess what, the girl who comforted me was the one who phoned me about it and so I had to get my Grab driver to drive back to the Rangsit Campus so I can pick up my wallet. I ended up paying him an extra 100 Thai baht. That girl literally saved me from pretty much losing all of my cash, along with all of my ID cards and various other items. Thank you so much, my friend…
So that marked the end of an absolutely wonderful event. Overall I must say the welcome event has been very, very enjoyable and also informative. Initially due to the prospect of having to travel back and forth every single day I thought of not attending all of the activities but I decided to do the journeys anyway and…oh boy, those long journeys and the possibly 2,000+ Thai baht being spent on taxis and Grab were very, very well worth-it.
The students who forms part of the staff team took care of me very, very well. Though I don’t have a dedicated buddy unlike the Chiang Rai trip, the level of care I received was absolutely amazing. Whenever I needed to go to the toilet, or whenever I was done with my meal someone was always there to help me. I would say pretty much all the staff who helped me out did equally good job, so there wasn’t really anyone in particular that stands out so greatly that would make writing a dedicated diary entry worth-it.
The fact that I finally have been given a formal welcome by DSS, and by older students from other faculties and other special programs, was absolutely wonderful, and it was partly because of this that made me finally cry during the feedback and reflection session at the activities building. It’s this kind of experience, the experience of being formally welcomed by the wider community of current students and staff, that I’ve been missing ever I first joined Thammasat University in 2020. But…honestly, it doesn’t have to be this way. Back then Thailand was free from local transmitions, and even on-campus classes were held, but somehow this kind of activity did not take place, at least the one for students with disabilities and other special programs.
In addition, the fact that everyone had been so friendly feels almost like I’m living in a different world. During meals and whenever there was a snack break, I always had someone to talk to; there was always people at my table and I had been welcomed in pretty much all the tables I sat at. Compared this with my experience during my very first semester, where I’ve been left to eat alone during lunches and when people go out for lunch, no one bothered to invite me; even when in the student lounge no one ever bothered to invite me to sit at their tables and have a chat and try to build friendships. It seems that these LLB students either don’t think I exist or they somehow view disabilities as more of a burden, and…that is the problem, even though if this is not being said out explicitly.
And…now, for the special message to LLB students who might be reading this…
To all LLB students…I’ve been attending the new students with disabilities preparation event organized by the Disability Support Service (DSS) from August 2nd to yesterday, August 5th, 2022 and I must say the event really showed that both normal people and people with disabilities can do things together and can become friends.
I just want to let you all know, that I often feel extremely lonely on campus. I always find myself eating lunch alone, often eating the same meals over and over again. There’s literally no one to talk to at all. In addition, I often find myself being unable to find groups for group projects, often having to rely on lecturers either assigning me to groups or asking someone to invite me into his or her group and this problem has been made worse when all classes moved online due to COVID-19. In one subject I was forced to work alone for a piece of assignment that was meant to be done as a group simply because I couldn’t find a group and no group was willing to take me in. So I just want to ask you…please, just approach me and invite me out for a meal or something. When hanging out in the student lounge, just…invite me to sit at your table whenever you see me sitting alone in a corner. And, in class when being asked to form groups for a group assignment or a group project, just…please, invite me into your groups. Working in groups, especially when your group includes someone whom you don’t know, is a way to build up friendship and getting to know each other more. I’m more than happy to help out with the group effort and contribute to the group work. Do not view disability as being a burden but rather view it as a sign of diversity in the human race. We’re all different, but in a good way. Diversity in both physical and mental abilities, as well as diversity in hobbies, behaviors and cultures is what makes the human species unique. And if any of you guys are planning on organizing a trip to somewhere, please, approach me and invite me along as well. All I need, for my final two semesters, is more friendships and the end to loneliness. Thank you very much and see you soon.
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