SNN Shares: Transitioning to Adulthood

Join Co-founder of Hong Kong’s Youth Empowerment Service, Alice Lee, and parents of disabled adults to explore future options for your child on their journey to adulthood. Our panellists will discuss:

• Taking a person-centred approach to planning and navigating life transitions
• The parent’s role and how it changes
• Planning with your child to navigate the road ahead
• How to help empower young adults to take charge of their lives
• How to ensure you have the support you need as a family

SPEAKERS

Speaker and Moderator

Alice Lee – Founder, Grow With Me

Alice Lee is an independent consultant to families and young adults with individual needs and offers person-centred planning for life transitions. Alice holds an MEd in Inclusive and Special Education, and has worked closely with different stakeholders during her 20 years of hands-on education, programme development and operations experience in Hong Kong, Singapore and New Zealand.

Her recent experience includes co-founding Youth Empowerment Services in Hong Kong, which operates two full-time programmes transitioning post-school young adults with different levels of needs into the community.

Based in New Zealand, Alice works with families as well as start-up programmes and services for enabling the best possible lives for people with disabilities in Hong Kong and New Zealand.

Parent Panellists

Lilian Ma – Parent, and Certified Financial Planner, Senior Unit Manager at Manulife Hong Kong

Lilian’s son has multiple disabilities but is a contended and happy young man. He graduated from school last year and is currently attending a day program extended for school graduates.

Lilian has over 15 years of experience in the financial services industry in Canada and Hong Kong. While working at Manulife, Lilian is also the founder of JLM WELLNESS and website www.12minerals.com, and the Hong Kong Representative of the Institute of Biochemic Medicine (Asia Pacific). Lilian is interested in estate planning for families of disabled children and is a committee member of the Guardianship and Estate Management Policy Monitoring Group in Hong Kong.

Wendy Nesbitt – Parent, and Co-Founder of The Nesbitt Centre

Wendy’s adult daughter has intellectual disabilities. She attends The Nesbitt Centre where students work at the organization’s coffee shops and bakery, and pursue training opportunities. Wendy is a teacher, with degrees in Music and English. She moved to Hong Kong from Canada in 1979 for a three-year posting and is still here. Wendy and her husband founded The Hong Kong Vocational Centre (which later became The Nesbitt Centre) over 25 years ago, because there was nothing for English-speaking special needs students after they reached age 17.

Dr. Simon Ng Tat Ming – Parent, and Assistant Professor in Law/Senior Programme Director, HKU SPACE

Simon is a husband and a father of two children. His older son has autism and currently attends a programme supporting young adults with additional needs.

Simon is a legal academic, focusing on interdisciplinary disability studies and engaging in related training/ knowledge exchange as well as advocacy for disability rights, equality and inclusion, both locally and internationally. He is an Honorary Research Associate with HKU Centre for the Advancement of Inclusive and Special Education and Book Reviews Editor for the International Journal of Disability and Social Justice. He served on the ICHK Board of Governors (2013-21) and is currently on the Committee on Rehabilitation of the Hong Kong Society for Rehabilitation.