Our Mission
Special Needs Network Hong Kong (SNNHK) is a networked community supporting parents and caregivers of individuals with special educational and/or medical needs (“special needs”) in Hong Kong.
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Our mission is to:
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Connect: Connect parents and caregivers of individuals with special needs and disabilities in Hong Kong.
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Support: Be a diverse self-sustaining Hong Kong organisation that supports parents and caregivers of individuals with special needs and disabilities .
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Empower: Empower parents and caregivers to become advocates for their children and the Hong Kong special needs and disability community.
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Share: Provide a platform for parents and caregivers to access and share information related to special needs; for example in areas such as education, employment, health, services and therapy.
What We Do
Google Group, Facebook Group and Website
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We look to build a supportive special needs/disability community by connecting families and caregivers in Hong Kong.
Talks, Courses and Workshops
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We host expert speakers to enhance the knowledge and skillsets of parents/caregivers of children with special needs and disabilities. We also hold events that focus on caregiver wellbeing. We aim to keep our events relevant, engaging and reasonably-priced, and we welcome your suggestions.
Knowledge and Information Sharing
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We help empower individuals and families in Hong Kong to become advocates for their children and the special needs/disability community by providing a platform for sharing information.
Who We Are
SNNHK is a not-for-profit company registered in Hong Kong, with a Board and volunteer committee managing its operations. Our volunteers meet regularly to plan a schedule of events throughout the year and help members connect.
Larissa Downes
Chairperson
Larissa has been involved with the Parent’s Network and SNNHK since 2006, and has found the support, friendship and advice offered invaluable. Her teenage son has a mitochondrial disease that causes severe developmental delay, epilepsy and other chronic health conditions.
Lynne Mulholland
Vice Chairperson
Lynne joined SNNHK as a committee volunteer in January 2022. She has lived in Hong Kong since 2000 and is a full-time working parent of two children. Her son has a rare chromosome condition which was diagnosed at age two and manifests in global developmental delays. She is inspired by the supportive community and the opportunity to interact with like-minded parents in SNNHK and finds the events a source of valuable professional information and advice.
Bonnie Lai
Treasurer
Bonnie has been connected to SNNHK and volunteering for the committee work since summer 2020. A parent to a 5-year-old daughter with epilepsy and global developmental delay, Bonnie believes that information and experience sharing helps parents and caregivers make informed decisions for their children and find the way through the journey of parenting children with special needs, and hence she found SNNHK's work meaningful and decided to contribute where she can.
Erin Macalligan
Volunteer Committee
Erin is a perennial problem solver and proud father who has called Hong Kong home for most of his life. Born in 2018, Erin’s daughter has a rare form of dwarfism called Cartilage Hair Hypoplasia, which also includes an associated severe immune deficiency. He joined SNN to connect with a community that embraces diversity and difference and supports one another through the experiences of parenting children with unique needs
Tina Chung
Volunteer Committee
Tina recently began volunteering with SNNHK since July 2020. Tina is a mother to two lovely and special little boys. Mattias is eight years old and has global developmental delays being diagnosed with 13Q Interstitial Deletion, and his little brother, Izaiah was diagnosed during pregnancy with Trisomy 18 and lived 7.5 months. Tina understands that the journey with special needs is a challenging one and requires entire communities to flourish.
Carolyn Chandler
Secretary
Having enjoyed the friendly and supportive network she found at SNNHK events, Carolyn wanted to become more deeply involved in the community and make a positive contribution. She became a volunteer committee member in August 2019. Her young son is on the Autism Spectrum.
Kim Anderson
Co-founder, Former Chairperson,
Honorary Member
Kim co-founded the “Parent’s Network” in Hong Kong in 2003, starting with a few parents of children with special needs getting together socially to support each other and share information. The group grew into SNNHK and the membership continues to increase every day. Kim is a keen advocate for special needs families and strongly believes that parents and caregivers require a support network. Her adult daughter has cerebral palsy, is a wheelchair user and, being non-verbal, uses an alternative communication system that she accesses with her eyes.
Past volunteers
Sarah Tam
Sarah was involved with SNNHK’s volunteer work from 2017 until late 2022 and contributed to the formalisation of SNNHK as a registered society in Hong Kong. Sarah is particularly interested in epilepsy and cerebral palsy, which her young daughter was diagnosed as a result of bacterial meningitis in 2016. As a former Vice Chairperson of SNNHK, Sarah was keen to share information and opinions on special needs and disability matters. Born and raised in Hong Kong, she is passionate about supporting peers through the journey of parenting disabled children.
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Robyn Evans Cunningham
Robyn was a volunteer for SNNHK from summer of 2021 until she left Hong Kong in late 2022. She was passionate about proactively raising awareness of the role SNNHK plays and supporting other parents. When she was first introduced to the organisation, she felt as though a big gap had been filled. Being part of an empathetic community of parents not only gave her courage and hope, but also an invaluable source of lived experience and advice. Her young daughter was born three months preterm, and has hydrocephalus and cerebral palsy.
Amy Fernando
Amy was in Hong Kong 2003 - 2020. After the life-changing premature birth of her eldest son in 2009, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, she spent two years dealing with feelings of guilt, concern and isolation, before reaching out to a few parent support groups, which have been her rock ever since. A working mother of two, she joined the SNNHK volunteer committee in 2016, while helping with other charitable projects that focus on improving the lives of special needs children.
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Mirna Salgadinho
Mirna volunteered for SNNHK from 2015 to 2020. She has a young son diagnosed with Mosaic Down Syndrome. Soon after his birth she became active in Hong Kong’s community of parents of children with special needs and gives her time to local charities. In 2015 she became a volunteer with SNNHK to give back for the support she has received from the community since her son’s birth.
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Kata Adasz
Kata was in Hong Kong with her family from 2014 to 2019. She is the mother of two boys; the eldest was born extremely premature in 2012 and has global developmental delay. After arriving in Hong Kong as a non-Chinese speaker, Kata felt a bit lost until she found SNNHK, which provided support both professionally and socially. Kata is busy applying her marketing and sales skills to promote SNNHK among Hong Kong families and professionals; she also teaches yoga for kids with special needs.
Pooja Mangla
Pooja stayed in Hong Kong during 2012-2019. She arrived with her four-month-old daughter who was diagnosed with Dandy Walker Syndrome and Global Developmental Delay. Pooja joined SNNHK, which has provided the support, knowledge and confidence to change her perspective on life as the mother of a differently abled child. Being a volunteer of SNNHK was also an opportunity for her to give something back to society.
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Mo Lie
Mo relocated to Hong Kong from the Netherlands in 2011 with her husband and two children. Her teenage son has GDD, ADHD and SPD. Mo was actively involved with several charitable organisations for children in Europe. Mo has contributed tremendously to the expansion of SNNHK's membership during her time on the volunteer committee till late 2019.
Sandra Feran
Sandra regularly attended the Parent’s Network from its inception in 2003. She has been involved with the SNNHK over the years and her most recent position was SNNHK's Treasurer. Sandra has two teenage boys with non verbal autism and is interested in the holistic approach to autism to support her sons.
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Organisation
Please see the Governance Structure of SNNHK here:
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Please read the Constitution of SNNHK here:
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