Renowed designer had hard childhood

JAKARTA (JP): Harry Darsono is blessed with exceptional talents. Besides being renowned as one of Indonesia's foremost couturiers, he is also a painter, a teacher and a musician.

But his current success did not come overnight. Only a few people know that this gifted artist went through an extremely difficult period during his childhood.

"I was a physically weak child because when I was born in 1951, I was premature," he said.

This physical weakness, coupled with severe language difficulties, made Harry's childhood lonely and frustrating.

"I could not utter a single word until I was nine years old," remembered Harry, whose distinguished works of embroidery have made him famous in the domestic and international fashion scenes.

Today, medical experts would have diagnosed Harry as having a learning disability, but in the late l950s and early l960s such disorders were usually unnoticed by medical and educational professionals.

"I grew up as a little 'criminal' in order to attract people's attention, to burn off my excess energy and to channel my anger," Harry recalled.

He was constantly in trouble as a child. One time, he cut up his sisters's dresses. He also played with knives and other dangerous tools, and once banged up his father's new car. Yet, even as a child, Harry was an artist, and his paintings were hung on the walls, gates and curtains of the family home.

As the fifth of the Darsono's eight children, Harry enjoyed certain privilege within this large family, owner of the Wismilak cigarette factory in East Java.

"I was lucky to have been brought up by devoted parents and caring siblings. Especially my mother, who has always been so understanding and patient," said the 47 year-old designer, looking at his elderly mother.

Harry's mother, Hajah Marjam Darsono, recently shared her experiences with dozens of parents from the Pantara school for children with learning disabilities.

"Raising eight kids, with one suffering from learning and language difficulties, was really a mammoth task for me," Mrs. Darsono recalled.

To educate her son, Mrs. Darsono sent Harry to a special school for the physically and mentally disabled in Surabaya, East Java, but Harry showed no signs of progress.

"I was so dismayed but I would never give up hope. My motherly instincts told me that he was as normal as other kids," she said.

Harry was later sent to Paris and London, where he attended schools for children with special needs, and his intellectual and artistic talents began to develop. He later graduated from the prestigious London College of Fashion's Department of Clothing Technology in Britain. He also earned a degree in psychology from London University.

"I learned from my own experience that kids with LDs (learning difficulties) only need special treatments and diverse learning methods. In Indonesia, many of them are unable to access such educational systems," said Harry, who is now an active advocate for parents of students with LDs, and unemployed youth.

Harry's success story is just one of thousands of such examples. A large number of famous people are reported to have suffered from serious learning difficulties during their childhood.

A few examples are the scientists Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison, British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill, children's story writer Hans Christian Andersen, and more contemporary figures like Singapore's former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yeuw. In Indonesia there is businessman Ciputra, movie actor Dede Yusuf and many more successful individuals.

"Parents must not be discouraged if they find out that their children have learning problems. But many of them cannot accept their kids' shortcomings," said Mrs. Darsono.

Children's conditions have always been associated with parents' sense of worth and self-esteem, and if they find that their kids are not "perfect", they become upset and confused, she added.

Norman Indrajit, a mother of a second-grader, Raymond, said that she and her husband realized that their son had a learning problem, but they were very confused and did not know what to do.

"We were utterly depressed, not only by the apparent lack of schools accessible to children like ours, but also by the shortage of information available to parents," Mrs. Indrajit said.

Raymond's parents looked for years to find an appropriate school for their son, who suffers from motor and coordination problems. With these difficulties, it is hard for the seven-year old Raymond to master writing and other motor skills.

"It was really relieving to find Pantara School, which teaches students like Raymond. The school has helped him to be more outgoing and gain more self-confidence," she said.

Not all parents are as lucky as the Indrajits, and may not even be aware that their children have learning disabilities.

To help these parents, Pantara Foundation established Parents' Group. The primary aim of the group is to bring together parents of children with learning difficulties in order to help each other through the exchange of ideas and information.

Ida Kadarusno and Dini, executives at Pantara Foundation, emphasized that parents are not only the first educators of their children, but they will have to acquire the expertise and obtain all the available information on LDs in order to deal with their children's problems.

She added that the best way to educate children with LDs is to closely involve teachers, parents and professionals, including child psychologists, physiotherapists, medical experts and education specialists.

To provide more information on LDs, Pantara Parents Group plans to hold regular meetings featuring experts in related fields as guest speakers.

"We eagerly welcome parents, teachers, child experts and those who are interested in this subject to join the meetings and share their expertise and experience with us," she said.

In the long term, Pantara Parents Group will expand its network to include both local and international organizations dealing with education for children with LDs.

For those interested in joining the group, please contact the Pantara Foundation at phone/fax: (021) 7234581-82; e-mail address: Pantara@Pacific.net.id. (raw)