Blink and raise awareness of Spinal Muscular Atrophy

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If you're wondering what Spinal Muscular Atrophy is, this new social media campaign has the answers

By staff writer |
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Josy Chow Pui-shan finds even simple tasks almost impossible. She is paralysed and can only use two fingers, but that didn't stop her from achieving 21 points in six subjects on her DSE exams last month and getting a place at the University of Hong Kong.

Chow, a student at SAHK B. M. Kotewall Memorial School in Kwai Chung, which caters for people with special educational needs, has a condition called Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA).

Chow knows that life with SMA is difficult, but not many other people do.

Last year's Ice Bucket Challenge did a great job of raising awareness of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and Chow, 21, wanted to start a similar campaign for SMA.

Often, people with SMA can still move parts of their face, including their eyes, which inspired Chow to come up with the Eyes Blink Challenge.

Through the challenge, she hopes to raise money for Families of SMA (FSMA), a charity that has been taking care of Chow's needs since she was young.

Facebook users are encouraged to upload a video of themselves blinking in a creative way. Chow also hopes the public will dig deep and donate money to FSMA. (You can deposit directly to the charity's HSBC Account: 002-6-404517)

Chow told Young Post: "The Ice Bucket Challenge did very well previously, and Facebook is such a large social media platform with users from all over the world. So after the DSE exams were over and done with, I thought of starting up a social media campaign for people with SMA."

When asked how she came up with the blinking concept, she said it was because people with SMA are generally better at blinking, even if they lack physical mobility in other areas.

"It was because of my disability that I thought of the Eyes Blink Challenge. People with SMA can't move that much, we can only move parts of our face."

Follow Josy Chow's lead to blink:

Young Post also got our blink on:

 

Show us how you raise awareness by #YPBlinks!

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