AN ASIA-WIDE group will fete next month a Thomasian student for promoting the role people with special needs by speaking in conferences.
Third-year history student John Nepomuceno will be among six individuals to be honored by the Special Education Network in Asia (Senia), an international network focused on raising awareness about special needs.
Other recipients were Nathan Marcus Canon, Sohankumar Motwani, Jason Philip De Los Santos and Stephen Patrick Quiogue from the Philippines and Kan Jiraphongtrakul of Thailand.
Nepomuceno, who was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), said the recognition could be an example to the society that individuals with special needs are far from being useless.
“I’ve encountered many special needs individuals who throw their lives away because they think that they’re useless with their disability and they won’t go anywhere,” Nepomuceno said in an interview with the Varsitarian.
“I’d like to show them that I, myself [who has an] extremely difficult case, overcame it. And because I didn’t want my disability to bring me down, I used it to my advantage,” he said.
As an ADHD advocate, Nepomuceno has spoken in various events sponsored by the Occupational Therapy Association of the Philippines and the ADHD Society of the Philippines.
The awarding ceremony will be held on Feb. 10 at the Yokohama International School in Japan.
Senia is a network of educators, professionals and parents in Asia promoting awareness for individuals with special needs.
Since 2012, the group has been recognizing students across the Asia who advocate the same cause.
