Friday, November 6, 2009 . chengxi's DiD experience in "learning to see"
7:46 PM

when i first heard that we're going to take a tour in DiD, it just didnt felt much. expected that it's probably just another educational tour, the only difference is that we're gonna be blindfolded or something like that. it just wasnt that attractive to me. curiousity's the only thing which kept me looking forward to it.

arriving on the site that morning slightly changed my views. from the outside, it looked wonderful. upon entering the place, i was warmly greeted with "ice-breaker" games which were pretty fun and engaging, and i thought it was some sort of "warm up to being blinded" kind of stuff. but it wasnt. throughout the games, blindness was never mentioned. what was emphasized was engaging our sense of touch and hearing and our ability to communicate with one another.

scheduled at 1145am, we went into the dark room. and i swear, it's the first time i've ever experienced total darkness. it's like wondering into a whole new world, a place we've never been to, a concoction of fear, amazement, fun and helplessness. it's not something which we deal with in our daily lives.

the trip set me thinking alot, real lot. capturing every subtle messages the surrounding were releasing by feeling things around and listening carefully. William was our guide for the tour. as we sat down at the cafe inside with our drinks, william shared with us how he lost his sight. 20 years ago, age of 35, he lost the sight on one of his eyes, and the condition got worse, and soon he lost the sight on both eyes. since then, he lived in this "darkness" that was painted beautifully in the room. a darkness that no one can really comprehend.

in the dark, this experience of ROLE REVERSAL happens. us, the fully abled ones in the light, switched roles with the blind guide, which in this case, was william. in the dark, we become the ones disabled of our sight, and needed william to lead us around.
this role reversal caught my attention.

sure in our daily lives, we dont see visual impaired around much, but some point in life, we certainly will. before the trip, sympathy was what i thought they needed, after the trip, i believe that they could live just as well as abled people like each and everyone of us. and this fighting spirit in them to live on, is what i wouldnt have noticed if i hadnt attend this tour.

seeing things from another perspective is the greatest take away one can ever have. why?
cos it changes your life, it changes how you look at things, and it changes how you deal with it.
i believe that what impacted me most is the fact that blind people carries a stronger and more passionate will to live on compared to us who have led a smooth-sailing life. this determination brings them to a higher level, a sense of living to the fullest.


i believe that DiD is an excellent model for social enterprise and learning. it's an experience that you can never imagine until you go through it yourself. words can never be enough to describe something as big, as powerful as this.

the market for social enterprise is still in it's very early stages. DiD brings it to a whole new level, with an extraordinary approach. it also gives us a new style of learning about social causes, not by just studying dead useless books, but by experiencing and putting your feelings into it.


bzse students have so much to contribute to DiD. publicity is definitely one of them. althought it's impossible to describe this experience to others, we can always try our best to encourage them to take on a new challenge. sharing our learnings can also educate others about the visually impaired and engage them to try out this amazing learning experience.

i believe this works in these 3 ways.
feel it, know it, and learn it.


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