After the talk by Mrs Choo, I began to be curious and want to know more about DiD and how does it look like in reality. Yet, I still did not know what to expect, and also doubted how a blind person could lead us in the tour.

When I first entered the room, I was quite taken aback by the total darkness. I began with small steps and was uncertain about what to do, besides holding to the shoulders of the friend in front of me. Wesley, our blind guide was very encouraging, and tried to make everyone of us feel at ease. Soon, under Wesley’s guidance and support from friends, I realise all of us started to explore the place with greater assurance, making use of all other senses. It was indeed an extraordinary new experience for me.

My greatest take-away will be a change of perspectives for the blind. To me, they belong to the vulnerable group that everyone will feel take pity on. I also believe that people who lost their sight cannot do much, and are dependent on others for a living.

Personally, I have never had any close contact with a blind person before, and Wesley being the first. He has taught me so much. His optimism towards life struck me and his sincerity touched me. I felt ashamed at how I always give up easily and allow small problems to affect me when there are so much more unfortunate people outside who are facing even bigger challenges in life. Also, Wesley’s professionalism throughout the whole tour is amazing. I have learnt that the visually impaired can also succeed in life if they are given the opportunity and proper training. They too, are just like any normal person and they lead a life no different from any one of us.

Besides, I have also learnt that being able to see the world everyday is blessing, but most often taken for granted. The tour has taught me to appreciate and cherish the simplest things in life.

I feel that DiD Singapore is an inspiration. The whole business idea and structure of the enterprise is very creative and unique. Employing the visually impaired as blind guides has made the tour more impactful. It has fulfilled many different needs of the society, including giving employment to the blind, empowering them and giving them hope. Also, when more people got to experience the DiD tour, they will grow to empathize with the blind, and grow to accept them as useful people who can contribute to the society. In this way, it has served the business aspect as well, using the money earned to sustain the enterprise. In addition, the fact that DiD carefully recruit and select every potential employee shows that it is treating the visually impaired as no different from any other people looking for jobs.

After hearing what Mrs Choo said regarding the development of DiD, from the whole planning process to implementation, I have learnt that it is really not as easy as it seems to set up an enterprise. There are so many things to be taken into consideration such the recruitment, finance, marketing and other aspects. Their enterprising and never-say-die spirit is something that the students from BZSE and PCS should learn from. Finally, through internship or voluntary services at DiD, we can learn how a social enterprise function, which would certainly be beneficial to us in the future.

As DiD is still new and unfamiliar to most people, there is still a need for marketing and publicity to be in place. An online blog could be set up to create awareness of DiD and update people of what DiD is all about, its mission, profiles of beneficiaries etc. A discussion board could also be there for people to leave their comments and feedback of their experience or what could be improved on. I feel that we can first start with students in NP, and encourage them to spread the word to their family and friends. We can then move on to schools and companies etc. Through word of mouth, I am sure we can reach out to a lot of other people. Besides, we can also help to plan activities and competitions that will promote DiD as a whole.

In addition, I feel that the positive impact of people going to the DiD tour only once may die down if there is not any follow up sessions. After all, it is difficult to change the perspectives of the blind in just 1 hour if the stereotype is already deeply ingrained in them. Hence, I suggest we can get the email contacts of the participants and update them regularly about the happenings in DiD and also recruit them as volunteers in different aspects.