as some of you might know, my thesis topic is called (at the moment) a development centre for the blind. I was going to use visually handicapped, but I find it bothers the blind to be called handicapped more than blind, so i shall stick to blind.
renhui told me about this thing going on at ngee ann poly called dialogue in the dark, so this morning, having nothing in particular to do, i went.
i called them at 945am to ask if there were slots, then they said what was the earliest i could come…i told them 11…so they said ok come at 11!
the afternoon was booked full though.
so i arrived at ngee ann poly sharp at 11am…and guess what i was the only person there!! hahahaa. student pricing was sgd12, so i paid up and was led into a dark room by a perky young lady (sighted) and was briefed about what would happen.
then the door opened into the dark…
when i entered, a warm voice welcomed me in and asked me to move toward his voice. i did so and felt the floor texture change. the voice asked me what it was…i said it felt like grass.
it was a very friendly voice, and as the voice kept talking, i was able to navigate the space very well with the help of my walking cane.
being in the dark is really not that scary. i felt comfortable despite not being able to see anything. for some reason, when i was in the dark my eyes kept watering and searching for a light somewhere…i caught a dim red glow somewhere during the journey in the dark but otherwise it was pitch black.
I found myself listening to the voice of my guide, who kept up an amiable chatter throughout. He had quite a funny sense of humor and tended to make funny assumptions about things that i couldn’t help laughing at and warming to.
so i guess it was because i had a guide that i didn’t feel scared.
i was wondering if my other senses would suddenly enhance themselves once i entered the dark space. i found that didn’t really happen. i found instead that i had to think more. I had to pay attention to what my senses were already picking up.
i could identify materials easily, i could sense if i were walking on carpet, on wood, on gravel, on pebbles…but i had to pay a great deal of attention. If I started a conversation with my guide, i tended to lose track of what i was doing, because it required so much concentration.
the experience was largely a very enclosed one. nothing could prepare me for real blindness, if it ever happened to me. imagine walking around and navigating traffic, finding your way around in the big bad world outside.
and i was in a safe environment with a very capable guide who told me what places were.
besides concentration, there was also a lot of logical thinking to do. For example, if I were in a moving vehicle, if the wind blowed in my direction, it would mean i were facing the direction of movement. unfortunately, i didn’t figure that out, i mixed up the directions because my brain was thinking the wind was coming from a fan, so there would be open space in front…without sight, there are many things a blind person could mistake as something else, because they rely on hearing a lot, and hearing can sometimes be misguided.
after the journey through the dark, i had coffee and a cookie in the dark and got to chit chat with my guide. I told him I was doing my thesis in architecture on the Blind. He was an amazing blind date. (I couldn’t help that…lol). He was far more interesting than most guys I know. It helped that I couldn’t see him at all…
You know, I think blind dates should be like that. I mean, we would truly get to know a person without actually seeing how they look, so we get a glimpse into their personalities and character rather than focusing on their physical attributes.
Anyway, I asked him about stuff like what was his favorite place in Singapore (Universal Studios, he likes roller coasters because he kind of can’t see how high he is but once he plunges down he sort of knows he was really high up). And then I found out he was blind since birth, and he has a sister and lives in an apartment and likes twitter but isn’t much of a facebook person (because he can’t see faces…dotdotdot). And he plays football with a plastic bag around it with blind and semi-visually impaired people and the totally blind can’t play striker (because the goalkeepers won’t tell him where the goalposts are). And he stalks women at traffic junctions because he can hear their high heels.
And that he’s been to Gold Coast and HK (and more, but I never asked) and loves iphone apps because there are many that cater for the blind (they read out stuff for him).
And that if he were in a soundproof room, he wouldn’t be able to judge the size of the room because he couldn’t hear a thing. And that he would have to feel around instead.
And that all rooms have acoustics and resonance and he can judge high ceilings and low ceilings and listens for echoes.
How cool is that? He is as able as you or i, and he goes out alone all over singapore (but he doesn’t like sg cos it’s hot).
he thinks guide dogs aren’t very useful (oh there’s only ONE guide dog in the whole of singapore, imagine!) because they only prevent you from falling into drains. Otherwise you have to guide them and must know where you want to go. And you don’t have to feed walking canes.
So, I wanted to write all these down because I might forget all these points (didn’t write anything down in the dark…)
anyway, it was an amazing experience and I might go there again when there are more people (more of an experience as there would be people to bump into and knock with a cane and stuff, more real).
Well, I really enjoyed my trip there. Do go! It’ll help the blind people support themselves, and you’ll learn to really appreciate your sight.
http://www.dialogueinthedark.com.sg/DiD/Pages/default.aspx
Also, you’ll find that blind people are just like you and me, human beings with hopes and dreams and they are so capable and brave and have overcome so much more than most of us. I am afraid I was thinking of blind people in categories, and asked some stupid questions like “hmm, but shouldn’t all blind people love music?” and then my guide, his name is kelvin by the way, said: “Oh they have their own hobbies…like you all…sometimes you like music, sometimes they don’t. sometimes they like crafts, they like cooking, they like different things…”
wah I must have really riled him, but he didn’t show it, he was really high eq-ed throughout. I was so stupidly judgmental.
Anyway, I didn’t leave without some momentos!
