Youders’ Story – Ms. Michelle Siu
Recipient of Sir Edward Youde Memorial Scholarship for Disabled Students in 2017/18
尤德爵士紀念基金殘疾學生獎學金2017/18年得獎者
“When God closes a door, He opens a window.” The recipient of Sir Edward Youde Memorial Scholarship for Disabled Students in 2017/18, Ms. Michelle Siu, was diagnosed with ocular cancer when she was just an infant. Yet because of that, her musical potential was unearthed. After years of immense effort and paying ten times more effort than others, she is now an outstanding soprano. Michelle was even elected as the Ten Outstanding Young Persons in 2020. She wishes to encourage more young people to shine in their own unique ways by music and her contribution to Hong Kong was recognised by the Panel of Judges.
When Michelle was a three-month-old baby, her parents brought her to the Maternal and Child Health Centre to be assessed. A nurse put toys in front of her. But unlike other kids, she did not grab the toys. When the nurse used a torch to examine her eyes, she also did not react to the strong lighting. Nevertheless, she was only labelled as “unresponsive to light”.
As her parents were worried about her situation, they brought baby Michelle to a pediatrician, who suspected that it might be a serious condition and would require immediate treatment. The pediatrician arranged further medical checkups and after a thorough examination, she was diagnosed to have eye cancer. Doctors advised her parents to undergo the enucleation of the eyeball immediately in order to save her life. Struggling between keeping her eyesight and saving her life, her parents made the difficult decision of choosing the latter, agreeing to the surgery being conducted as soon as possible.
After the surgery, her parents intended to train her hearing. She still remembers her favorite toy at that time – a toy piano, which was accidentally damaged when she was playing it while having congee. Coincidentally, Her neighbor had been hiring a piano teacher when she started to develop enthusiasm towards music. The piano teacher led the beginning of Michelle’s magical journey with music. Her piano teacher discovered her talent in singing when she was ten. Later, the teacher asked a friend to teach Michelle singing, making her a soprano.
When Michelle was four years old, she studied at Ebenezer School & Home for the visually impaired to learn skills like braille. After graduation from primary school , she transferred to St. Stephen’s Girls’ College to get into mainstream education. Her biggest difficulty during her secondary school years was to get satisfactory results in the four core subjects, a prerequisite to get into a university. For instance, she needed to devote much time to study Mathematics, despite the fact that she had aspired to study music since she was a junior form student. Apart from that, as she began to be recognised through her life story, she received many invitations to various events and performances, leaving less time for her learning. Seeing her falling behind her academics, her secondary school teacher warmly reminded her to spend more time on studying, otherwise, she would be unlikely to get into university. It was a wakeup call to her. Since then, she had focused on studying and canceled all the performances and charity events. By doing so, she eventually received admission offers from three universities. Knowing that studying at CUHK can let her take courses apart from the music curriculum, she decided to attend CUHK with a major in music. She also studied Italian, German and even Chinese women’s history courses.
During the pandemic, Michelle does not get as many opportunities to perform as before. But she utilised this period to reflect on herself and refined her skills in performing different types of songs. Her beautiful voice was what audiences were attracted to but she found herself less able to express her emotions through singing because of the limitations in her singing techniques. Thus, she used almost six months to practise different ways of performing. Coupled with her unique experiences, the audience can better understand the deeper meanings of songs.
Looking forward, Michelle endeavours to devote in music. Apart from singing, she is steppin into the new world of composition and writing Cantonese lyrics. Recently, she has made a song “You are heroes” to show appreciation to all the medical staff for their hard work during the pandemic. She was also invited to sing the theme song of a movie, “Sunshine of My life”. Music aside, she hopes to contribute to children’s education and integrated education. She pointed out that mainstream schools in Hong Kong place too much emphasis on academic results instead of paying attention to moral education. She also realised from her own experience that mainstream education emphasizes the needs of the disabled children, but not exploring their ability. Therefore, she hopes that integrated education can unearth potentials of the disabled, enhancing their confidence and contribution to society.
Michelle was awarded with the Sir Edward Youde Memorial Scholarship for Disabled Students in 2018, when she was studying music at CUHK as a Year 2 student. In the Award Presentation Ceremony, she met the teacher who reminded her to concentrate on study. Although she could not see the facial expression of her teacher, she could feel that the teacher was proud of her. She was extremely thankful for receiving the scholarship as it was a recognition of her efforts and instilled great motivation in her to become a professional musician. This scholarship is also the very few ones targeting the disabled, she noted, and such a way would promote equity among able and disabled people.
In the eyes of others, Michelle has been a disabled person since she was born, but not in her parents’. She is thankful for the care that her parents showered her throughout the years and for never treating her as a disabled person. They nurtured her in a way just as an able-bodied person would be nurtured. She actively participates in charitable events, including fundraising concerts and visits to less developed regions. She hopes to use her life to affect lives and encourage the disadvantaged to be hopeful.
「上天關了一扇門，必定會為你打開另一扇窗。」尤德爵士紀念基金殘疾學生獎學金2017/18年得獎者蕭凱恩小姐尚在襁褓之時就因患上眼癌而失去視力，但卻因而發掘到她在音樂方面的天賦，終在付出比一般人多十倍的努力之下成為了一名女高音歌唱家。凱恩更於2020年獲選香港十大傑出青年榮譽，她希望透過音樂鼓勵更多青年人在人生舞台上綻放光芒，而她對香港社會的貢獻被評審一致肯定。
在凱恩三個月大時，父母帶她到母嬰健康院進行檢查。當護士把玩具放在她面前，她不像其他嬰兒一樣伸手要拿，護士再用電筒直照她的雙眼，亦發現她的雙眼沒有反應，但只是被寫下一句「對光沒有反應」。其後，父母帶她到一名兒科醫生檢查，發現她的雙眼問題嚴重，立即轉介她到眼科醫院作跟進。進一步檢查後，醫生診斷出她患上眼癌，並建議她在當晚接受眼球摘除手術。當時，父母希望既能保留視力，亦能保住生命，但由於癌細胞有機會擴散至其他器官，最終他們無奈決定為凱恩摘除眼球。
手術後，凱恩的父母刻意訓練她的聽覺。她還記得小時候她對一個玩具琴愛不釋手，更在進食時不幸把粥滴到琴中而導致不能運作。碰巧，她的一位鄰居正在學琴，在詢問該名老師能否教導她後，凱恩便種下了她和音樂的不解之緣。到大約十歲時，當時她的鋼琴老師聽到她有唱歌方面的潛能，便找來一位朋友做她的唱歌老師，培養她成為一名女高音。
凱恩四歲時，她進入心光盲人院暨學校學習點字及生活技能。完成小學課程後，她轉到聖士提反女子中學就讀，以適應主流的學業環境。她坦言，中學時面對最大的困難是需要在所有主科都取得不俗的成績才能升讀大學。以她為例，早在初中已決心修讀音樂，但卻需要投放大量心機時間在數學科。另外，當時凱恩已薄有名氣，經常應邀出席不同的活動及表演，因而分薄了溫習的時間。當時老師提醒她，若不多花時間在學業上，升讀大學的機會將會變得渺茫。老師的提醒如當頭棒喝，凱恩下定決心，取消所有表演及慈善活動，專注學業，最終獲得三間院校的取錄。考慮到中文大學可以讓她報讀一些音樂以外的課程，她決定入讀該校的音樂系。除了音樂的知識，凱恩亦選讀了意大利語、德語、乃至中國婦女史等課程。
疫情期間，凱恩的表演機會大減。但她卻在這段時間反思，並掌握到表演曲目需要不同的表達方式。以往，凱恩依仗自己優美的聲線，在不同的場合以自己的方式進行演唱。但近兩年，她自覺演唱技巧沒有問題，但所表達出來的曲目好像沒有了感情。因此，她用了接近半年時間去鑽研不同的表達方式，結合自己的經歷，讓觀眾接觸到曲目最深層的含意。
展望將來，凱恩會繼續投放時間到音樂方面。唱歌以外，她亦嘗試作曲以及粵語填詞。早前，她創作了一首《You are heroes》的曲目，以表達對醫護人員在疫情中緊守崗位的感激之情。她亦受邀為電影《一路瞳行》的主題曲獻唱。音樂以外，她希望為兒童教育及融合教育作出貢獻。她指出，香港的主流學校著重學童學術成績，但忽略品德上的培養；而自身的經歷告訴她香港的主流教育強調殘疾學生的需要，但忽略他們的能力。所以她希望融合教育能有助發掘他們的潛能，增強他們的自信，日後回饋社會。
凱恩於2018年，就讀於中文大學音樂系二年級時，獲得尤德爵士紀念基金殘疾學生獎學金。在頒獎典禮上，她偶遇當時予她一頭棒喝的中學老師。雖然她看不見老師的臉部表情，但她切切感受到老師為她感到驕傲和欣慰。她十分感激獎學金對她的付出和努力予以肯定，同時讓她堅定地走上音樂的道路。她指出，社會上特別為殘疾人士而設的獎學金屈指可數，尤德爵士紀念基金殘疾學生獎學金是少數特別關注殘疾人士的獎學金機構，支持了社會的平等發展。
凱恩自小便是他人眼中的殘疾人士，但她十分感激父母對她無微不至的照顧，以及成長以來從不把她當成殘疾人士看待，一直以「正常人」的方式培養她。即使她失去視力，但她亦積極投身於公益活動，在多個慈善活動中演出，甚至到訪一些貧困地區，期望以生命影響生命，鼓勵弱勢人士自強不息。