Gritty Kong overcomes odds to become a lawyer
Kong Hwei Zhen saw through difficult times with tenacious grit, overcame the odds and achieved her goal of becoming a lawyer.
The visually impaired 24-year-old, who was born with congenital (childhood) glaucoma, stood tall when called to the Bar before High Court judge (Appellate and Special Powers) Justice Nordin Hassan.
“I am so happy and proud,” she said yesterday.
Kong did her A-Levels at Brickfields Asia College and a United Kingdom transfer degree programme in law.
She completed her degree year with first class honours at the University of Liverpool.
She then completed her Certificate of Legal Practice at Brickfields Asia College.
Overall, it took her six years despite her handicap.
Kong said she faced challenges in her studies as well as practice particularly on mobility.
“Getting materials was also quite hard because there are not many law books that can be converted into Braille.
“I have to use e-copies of these books but to get these books is not easy because you need licence from publishers, and most publishers are actually quite reluctant because of intellectual property issues,” she said.
During her pupilage, Kong said she was required to navigate websites for research.
“Some of the websites are not disabled friendly. It’s difficult to navigate through the web and I often needed someone to assist me to click certain icons and that may take up a lot of time,” she added.
Friendly and down to earth, Kong now aspires to champion the rights of persons with disabilities.
“It (the rights of persons with disabilities) is not well protected. There are many boundaries and challenges especially mobility and accessibility issues.
“I aim to tackle these issues,” she said.