Chong Chan-Yau is the CEO of CarbonCare InnoLab, the President of the Hong Kong Blind Union, former Chairman and current Director of The Board of the Dialogue in the Dark Hong Kong Foundation, former Chairman of and current Board Director of Carbon Care Asia, former Executive Director of Oxfam Hong Kong.

He has received many awards including Ten Outstanding Young Persons Award, MBE, China Poverty Alleviation Award, and Honorary Fellowship from the University of Hong Kong. 

Chan-Yau grew up in Kowloon City, Hong Kong and became blind at the age of 6. However, Chan-Yau has never allowed his blindness to hold him back from defying society’s expectations & creating great impact whether it’s in the area of fighting for equal rights for the disabled to combating global poverty and climate change. 

In this STIMY episode, we discuss:

• 1:41: Growing up in a large family of 10 in Kowloon City, Hong Kong
• 3:49: Going blind at the age of 6
• 7:37: Studying at the Ebenezer School for the Blind & why it took 1 year for his family to decide to let him go (including learning Braille)
• 9:28: What it’s like learning Braille 
• 12:03: Being rebellious & defying expectations of what being blind could do as students
• 16:04: Aspiring to further education & not doing what was expected of blind people then (being telephone operators or fortune tellers)
• 20:44: What drove Chan-Yau to constantly prove others wrong, that “our ability is not affected by our blindness”
• 21:39: Attending regular school & receiving assistance from Sister Moira of the Maryknoll Convent School
• 25:10: Entering the University of Hong Kong as one of its first blind students
• 27:07: Petitioning the Governor of Hong Kong to provide more equal rights and opportunities to blind people
• 30:44: Studying at the London School of Economics
• 33:35: Becoming the first Hong Kong government administrative officer
• 34:48: Reason for joining Oxfam and becoming the Director of Fundraising
• 36:06: How Chan-Yau developed the monthly donor base for Oxfam Hong Kong from 3000 to over 100,000
• 39:47: Developing Oxfam rice & why rice was the medium chosen
• 42:07: The development of rights of the blind in Hong Kong
• 44:48: Founding the Dialogue in the Dark Hong Kong
• 46:40: How can employers create a more inclusive workplace for the blind?
• 48:31: Entering the climate change space

Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/25