The activities and updates of DID always reach me through the word of mouth during guest lectures, friends doing internship in DID and even the HMS (School of Humanities) lecturers. Everything could only be based on my own interpretation and imagination of the limited information provided for us. My imagination only considered the things I would encounter but not how I would cope and feel when groping and orientating myself in a new unfamiliar environment. I did not know what to expect knowing we were going for the DID tour. However, our peers who went before us injected the excitement in us re-enacting their experience to us.
The pre-introduction was a good warm-up activity for us to activate all our other 4 senses without the help of our eyes. Since my group did not have much time to go through the whole pre-introduction, we prepared ourselves by coming up with contingency plans such as making sure we stick close to the walls (if there were any since we weren’t inside yet) and had our accountability partner behind us all the time. The sticks was definitely a great relief to most of us as it assured that we would have less bruises if there were ever obstacles that may come our way. Personally, it did not take me long to get used to the dark and having to use my hands and stick to find my way around. What made it more assuring and certain was the voice of the guide. His voice was clear and he never failed to describe the particular place we were at with great detail which assured us that we were in good hands.
This experience helped me realised that the other senses are just as sensitive and powerful as the eyes. We need not our eyes to tell where we are or interpret someone else’s emotion or feelings. Having a phobia of darkness, this experience has definitely helped me to gain a different perspective of darkness. There was not a second I felt fearful inside but instead I felt at peace. My 4 senses allowed me to connect with the serenity void of distraction. We often rely too much on our eyes to take note of our surroundings. Very often, the reason why we miss out the minute of things due to the neglect of our other sense.
The darkness reminded me of how vulnerable we are as human beings. Knowing that we are in obvious darkness gives us a chance to orientate and adapt to the new, unfamiliar environment. However, many a times we are not even aware of the darkness present in our lives. We no longer use our hearts to feel but give in to the shallowness our eyes make us assume. The vulnerability of it is that it would have been too late to react by the time we realise our lives are almost consumed by darkness. This experience has helped me to recognise how sensitive the other senses are when it is interpreted not only by our mind but by the heart to best understand our surroundings or people.
The guide often played around with our imagination with the words and intonations he had when he spoke. It made me asked myself how a person born blind would know what to imagine since he has never seen the world. Till now I have not been able to answer that but it made me appreciate the colours and even the piece of rubbish on the ground. I would never have known what an ant would look like or that I just crushed it under my feet if I had not been blessed with sight.
It is a learning model for us because it not only provides them with a stable job but also acknowledging their independence and courage through their contribution to the organisation. They have been empowered by being able to make full use of darkness in which they have the upper hand and having us to rely on them instead. It helps create awareness among the public that their presence and needs are often neglected due to the stereotype and assumption/ label we place on them. We have unknowingly created a barrier between us and the gap will only get bigger if we choose to stay in our comfort zone and follow the conventional. This stigma will be carried through generations if we do not put in effort to start changing our own mindsets/ discrimination against them. This also applies to the other minorities of society.
We could contribute to DID by making its activities and updates known to the public. Not only what is present and available at DID Singapore but how DID has impacted the blind all over the world. This allows better understanding of how DID sustain as a social enterprise and identification of the beneficiaries’ needs which may have been overlooked here in Singapore. With better understanding, new proposed ideas would not clash or overlap but instead complement existing core values to bring DID Singapore to higher level of empowerment, awareness and benefit.
Melissa Poh, T02
