Read our students' stories that start from the CUHK and go further beyond.

When we speak of the legal profession, it usually calls to mind smart-looking lawyers in tailored suits holding a briefcase. But barrister Ying Kei Wong is one of a kind. When she meets with her clients, she is often clad in casual wear. She does that for a reason - by dressing down, she hopes to appear more approachable and gain the trust of her clients, who are mostly people with special needs.

To a certain extent, Ying Kei herself is also a person with special needs - she has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Before becoming a barrister, she read law at a prestigious university abroad. After returning to Hong Kong, she completed an MA in Psychology and also a Postgraduate Certificate in Laws (PCLL). Her splendid qualifications have raised a few eyebrows, with people wondering if she really has ADHD. As a matter of fact, she has problem concentrating, but when she is interested in a certain subject, she will become so focused and attached that it is as if she were sucked into a black hole. She feels lucky that her passion happens to be her job from which she can get a great sense of satisfaction. She cherishes every opportunity to represent a defendant with special needs, as she believes every court hearing is a chance to change the way the general public views people with special needs or mental illnesses, which can help remove stigmatised labels.

Like Ashley Chan, Ying Kei has experienced first-hand how fellowship is established when people with the same vision join hands to work towards the same goal. Aspiring to a world with no discrimination, she reached out to professors who specialise in areas related to discrimination when she studied psychology at CUHK. That was when she met Professor Winnie Mak, who focuses her research on stigma reduction and shares with Ying Kei the belief that destigmatisation is of vital importance to our society. The two got on famously the first time they met, and Ying Kei later became a research assistant to Professor Mak, contributing to research in mental health and destigmatisation.

Yet much as she enjoyed working with Professor Mak, Ying Kei found herself in a dilemma about her research work when she received an offer from another institution to study for a PCLL. Worried that the course might hinder the research work, Ying Kei sat down with Professor Mak to discuss what she should do. During the meeting, she was moved to tears by the fact that she could have a genuine and straightforward conversation with the professor. Professor Mak also encouraged her to further her studies in law, as that would ultimately help her cause of fighting stigma, given that society tends to respect the opinions of people with professional qualifications. 

On top of dealing with lawsuits as a barrister, Ying Kei also finds time to visit various organisations and schools to educate people on the rights of the disabled and promote the destigmatisation of people with mental health issues. She also seeks to promote public education on the specific legal procedures related to people with special needs. Having a jam-packed work schedule every day can be stressful and tiring. But when thinking about how her enthusiasm has kept her going and led her to overcome different challenges, Ying Kei believes she will only get more passionate about what she does as time goes by, and that she will never give up.