Lex is an Early Years professional from the UK with a PGCert in Special Educational Needs Coordination. She has worked with children for 20 years in various countries including Australia and Rwanda. She moved to Cambodia with her husband in 2015 with the desire to increase quality SEND provision within the country. She is SENCO and Head of The Giving Tree School’s Early Years campus in Phnom Penh. As well as supporting her fellow teachers she also teaches a class of two year old students. Lex is passionate about early intervention and networking with other professionals to bring awareness and high quality provision to all children with SEND in Cambodia. She also has 3 young boys at home that love to keep her busy when she’s not teaching! Lex took over as Chair of SENIA Cambodia Chapter in 2020, spearheading multiple projects while tirelessly supporting SENIA and wider community members.

Congratulations to Lex Hamilton as the April 2021 SENIA World Changer recipient!

Zandri is an Occupational Therapist based in Hanoi, Vietnam.She started her journey when she visited Vietnam in Nov 2017. Looking through her Occupational Therapy (OT) lenses, she saw that limited accommodations were being made for people with disabilities. She returned to Vietnam in Feb 2018, taking Hanoi by storm and advocating for inclusion in the community and schools. She serves as an OT service provider and is also a board member of SENIA Vietnam.

Zandri develops programs and training for teachers, parents and other service providers in Hanoi to equip them with the knowledge and skills needed to create an inclusive classroom. She does school visits to support the development of Learning Support and provides recommendations that fit with the teacher’s teaching style and classroom challenges. Zandri provides training and guides newly qualified OT’s in Vietnam to broaden their impact in the community through professional and self-development.

Zandri is passionate about creating equal opportunities for all and believes through education, awareness, and skills training, Vietnam (and the world) can view the world and its beautiful people through lenses of love, empathy, and understanding.

Through love for ourselves and our neighbors we change the world – one by one.

Congratulations to Zandri Byleveldt as the recipient of the 2021 February World Changer Award!

Edelson Dell started as a track and field athlete in the early 2010s before transitioning to football. He played actively in the special needs football championship in 2014. He represented his state, Sabah, to play professionally in various national level matches across the country where his team often earned the top three spots including several victories. His incredible talent and efforts helped him become an exceptional player. He successfully made it to the national team and represented the country at regional and international level football championships in Taiwan, South Korea and Brazil. His remarkable feat in football has inspired many individuals with special needs especially those from his state, Sabah, and his former school, KVKEN, to participate in football and other sports tournaments. Due to this, many schools in the state have begun to invest more in sports for special needs students.

Congratulations to Edelson Dell Evaristus as the recipient of the SENIA World Changer Award November 2020!

Zico Luck Elvister is a 17-year-old student at Keningau Vocational College located in the interior region of Sabah, Malaysia. Zico is a student whose main means of communication is through sign language due to a hearing impairment. Despite this, Zico has inspired students of special needs and people from the rural communities in the state with his accomplishments in chess tournaments at the national and international level. He was the 1st runner up of Malaysian Lions International English Chess Competition for special needs category in 2019. He was also the 1st runner up for the same category in the national Malaysian Chess Tournament for the Disabled in 2019. He achieved this feat at such a young age despite coming from an economically disadvantaged and remote area. He has successfully paved the way for other students of special needs to venture into chess tournaments and has revived the community’s interest in the sport.

Kumaresan Muniandy is a special education teacher with a degree and master’s degree in special education. He has 10 years of special education teaching experience. At Merbok Special Education Vocational School, he trained students in vocational skills to become skilled workers and venture into the field of entrepreneurship. He also contributed in developing transition program modules for career development which was adopted by special education teachers throughout Malaysia. His expertise in the field of career transition allows him to be one of the experts in training special education teachers at Seameo Sen Malaysia. He has been given various awards such as Excellent Service Award, Outstanding Teacher Award, Innovation Teacher Award, Innovative Teacher Award  and Special Education Icon Award. He has written 23 research papers related to career transition and advocacy among SEN students, as well as provided much needed training for educators, industry and the community.  To see some of his work, click on the link below: https://youtu.be/0oGENqf2mx0