Empathy Workshop by VCA 2025 JOE GIOVANNI AVALOKITA CHANG

reflection

joegiovanniavalokitachang2025 — 2025-01-31 01:34:32 UTC

what was your role?

what was challenging about the activity

what are some key activities learnt? how has it changed perspectives?

kaylene

2025-01-31 01:37:12 UTC

as the volunteer i had to be super patient in repeating myself to the dementia patient. i also tried to simplify the game for those with visual impairments and arthrits by placing a few of the same colour in their palm so there is less confusion. overall i tried to be tolerant and not fixate on the little mistakes.

Kristian

2025-01-31 01:37:30 UTC

My role was a senior with arthritis.

It was challenging to portray the disability and to go against the wishes of the volunteer (even though it was mad fun 😈😈😈🔥🔥🔥).

I learnt from the volunteer that sometimes you just have to keep trying and keep pushing your target to achieving the goal even if it seems completely hopeless and they don't want to cooperate at all. Since I interned at a nursing home last year, it's changed my perspective on how to gracefully(?) interact with seniors and be more proactive in my service.

yeexuan

2025-01-31 01:37:54 UTC

dementia patient

the elderly with different conditions were not cooperative and hence we could not complete the activity

there are many conditions that people can get with age. we should try our best to understand why they are behaving this way and treat them with care and patience.

tayshunconggabriel2025 — 2025-01-31 01:37:59 UTC

What was your role?

an elderly person that couldn't speak

What was challenging about the activity?

the activity was simple so my disability didn't stop me from participating

What are some key lessons/insights gained? Has it changed existing beliefs and perspectives?

i learnt more about arthritis, joint pain that I didn't know much about before
i learned that being a volunteer is difficult because you have to tend to many elderly with each having their own needs at a time. i now have more respect for their patience and perseverance.

Reiko

2025-01-31 01:38:47 UTC

As a volunteer, the challenging part was keeping my cool. I learnt that I need to be more assertive and optimistic. I realized the elderly aren't just passive but can be rather disruptive at times.

Ig11

2025-01-31 01:39:11 UTC

I was the person with arthritis
It was difficult to pick up the macaroni with gloves
It was fun to role play but it is important to play the role of the person with respect without making fun of them. I learnt more about the struggles of the elderly which provides me with a deeper understanding of how to interact with them meaningfully.

Javier

2025-01-31 01:39:16 UTC

1.I was the elderly who had difficulty speaking

2.Communicating and listening to instructions

3.Patience is important for clear cut communication

4.No

genevie

2025-01-31 01:39:37 UTC

volunteer

making sure that the elderly did the activity properly and were engaged

people with disabilities/ mental health issues should also be able to bond with others,

not easy for both volunteers and the elderly to understand/help/motivate each other's struggles during the activities. beliefs did not change

2025-01-31 01:39:43 UTC

I was the elderly with presbyopia

I couldn’t see much while wearing the glasses and I couldn’t get the other grp members to understand how far I can see

I learned that I have to be more sensitive to others with different abilities than me and be more open to help them when they need

tiara

2025-01-31 01:40:33 UTC

i played a person with dementia where i keep forgetting the purpose of the activity and i kept asking questions which is burdening for the volunteer. patience and empathy is crucial to have when dealing with people of different disabilities so they feel cared for and connected. this helped me to realise that some people find doing basic things difficult and we need to understand their feelings.

Sanjay

2025-01-31 01:41:03 UTC

• Angry fussy senior
• Trying to sustain being fussy for as long as possible
• I cannot understand how anybody could possibly be so uncooperative and troublesome as I was unless they are actively trying to be as painful as possible
So I feel that as long as the volunteers are patient and understanding with the seniors we should be able to get through to them and convince them to participate
This activity has made me realise that it actually shouldn't be too difficult to get senior citizens to participate in activities even if they are initially uncooperative, because as long as we treat them with kindness we definitely will be able to convince them to take part in our activities

Dhiyanesh

2025-01-31 01:41:20 UTC

My role was a senior with a negative attitude.

As volunteers we can try to understand their views better and try to motivate them to change their mindset so they can participate more actively

Jia Yin

2025-01-31 01:41:23 UTC

I was acting as a senior with presbyopia, so I had problems seeing things near me. The activities was very hard to do because of my sight, it was causing my eyes to hurt. I learnt that seniors with this type of disability really suffer becuz it's hard to do anything themselves.

braven

2025-01-31 01:41:24 UTC

i was volunteer and in my grp there were seniors with dementia, motor skill disability and farsightedness. there was also someone who was a negative enforcer and uncooperative.

this made the role tiring as I had to make try and occupy everyone's attention to get them to do the task. people were also uncooperative to finish the task so it was troublesome to do so.

this activity let me learn how to deal with uncooperative people and how to split my attention n find different ways to occupy their attention n get them to do the task at hand

Alvon

2025-01-31 01:41:34 UTC

My role was someone with presbyopia.

I could not see well through the glasses, and I was already half blind without my actual glasses, so I mis-sorted the macaroni multiple times.

Through this activity, I learnt that we need to be a bit more patient with the elderly people we work with as they may have their own difficulties to deal with, and that we should try to help them the best we can.

jinghan

2025-01-31 01:41:41 UTC

What was your role? - Senior with dementia.

What was challenging about the activity? - Forgetting how to do the activity made it difficult to make any progress.

What are some key lessons/insights gained? Has it changed existing beliefs and perspectives? - I am able to better understand the struggles of the elderly and the importance of patience.

Reuel

2025-01-31 01:42:32 UTC

Communication difficulties

My personality hindered me from speaking to the other people since I had communicaction difficulties. This meant I could not participate fully and usually kept to myself.

I learned that people who cant communicate well should be given more attention to help include them in the activity. It has changed my perspective from the fact that all people who want to be included will actively try to be included, to the realisation that some people who want to be included cant because of their disabilities

Joella

2025-01-31 01:42:33 UTC

What was your role?

Senior with dementia

What was challenging about the activity?

It was embarrassing, I was not sure how I was supposed to react to some scenarios

What are some key lessons/insights gained? Has it changed existing beliefs and perspectives?

We should try to understand why the elderly are uncooperative with us, as they may have issues like arteritis, that make them grumpy. Also, we should appreciate people who work in elderly homes, cos it's hard to be so patient. our volunteer looked so tired after we finishedXD