JOHOR BARU: It is likely that Mohd Yusof Haidrus has not heard of Dr Oilver Sacks, the neurologist who died in 2015 at the age of 82.
It was Sacks, a British-born and America-trained doctor, who discovered that those born with autism should be viewed as “differently abled” and not as imbeciles.
Yusof Haidrus, 48, is no Oliver Sacks – but in a life stricken by polio since he was just 7-months-old – he has strived, aided by loving parents, to overcome obstacles and finish his schooling.
After completing his basic education, he worked as an administrative assistant in various homes for the differently abled in Segamat and Johor Baru.
“I could see that merely taking care of these people's subsistence was not going to be enough for them,” said Yusof about his motive in going out on his own to set up a home for children nobody seems to want.
“We have to go beyond that, because in life, nobody can feel fulfilled without a sense of self-worth and that mainly comes from being useful to themselves and to society,” Yusof said, in tones redolent of what was likely his own life-experience.
In April 2017, with help from friends, Yusof set up the Johor Disabled Children Charitable and Cares Organisation which then rented a double-storey terrace house in a low-cost housing scheme in Johor Jaya.
The first thing he did was to take in the most deserving cases of the indigent, with no distinction of race, religion or gender.
“This was a tough idea for people to accept,” observed Yusof, of the home's multi-racialism and pluralism of beliefs.
“But I tell you when children of different races and religions live together while coping with one handicap or the other, they are better able to see that it's one humanity that feels and one humanity that struggles,” explained Yusof.
He said there are no fixed payments for those who want to send their children to the home, adding that most of the kids are from poor families.
This attention to the common humanity of the home's residents, now 18 in number, has attracted donors from across a multiplicity of races, beliefs and professions.
“They come, they see what we do and how we run things and they are moved to give what they can,” was how Yusof described the flow of financial and other assistance the home receives from sundry well-wishers.
Two Indonesian maids double up as caregivers and also as foster mothers, on account of one of the newest residents, a 6-month-old baby who passes motion via a tube because of a birth defect.
“We take in anybody who tugs at our heartstrings,” said Yusof.
Corporate bodies, eager to fulfil their corporate social responsibility (CSR), have been drawn to make inquiries.
Earlier this month, a developer, Tasek Maju Realty, donated RM50,000 to the home, a sum that allowed for the setting up of a Sensory Room and a Physiotherapy Centre, besides facilitating the purchase of consumables for the resident children.
Tasek Maju Realty’s newly incorporated non-profit organisation (Ang Tiong Loi Tasek Maju Charity Berhad) chose the Christmas season to present the donation and other gifts for the children.
Johor Jaya assemblyman Leow Cai Tung, who is the state executive councillor for welfare, officiated the function.
Chan Seng Chow, COO of Tasek Maju Realty, said the initiative is part of the group’s CSR programme of providing long-term benefits for children at the centre, including shelter and assistance.
With the Sensory Room, in particular, Yusof believes he can give the cognitively challenged a way to make sense of their world, adding: “The funds allocated will be used to buy daily consumable supplies for two months for the centre.”
Among the 18 residents are individuals who have autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, and those with learning disabilities.
The administrative costs of running the home are reduced by the presence of Rokiah, a businesswoman who is Yusof's wife. She manages the place with the help of Nur Jahan, Yusof's sister, who helps with t
he caregiving and doubles up as chef.
Nur Jahan's empathy has been well honed by familiarity with her brother's struggles in a polio-stricken life.
In sum, the home was begun in empathy, is funded by compassion, and is sustained by social responsibility.
Yusof says he knows the skin of the differently abled, which he discovered is blissfully ignorant of the vanity of petty distinctions.