Monday, November 9, 2009 . Justine's DiD Experience
11:19 AM


Last Wednesday I went to Dialogue in the Dark, not knowing what to expect. I came out of Dialogue in the Dark speechless.
The experience blew me away.
Imagine going into a museum. There are different rooms, all having different settings. For example one room is a setting of a park, you can hear the birds chirping, smell the fresh air, touch the leaves and bushes, and even taste the fruits. You can hear, smell, taste and even touch, but the catch is this, you can't see a thing. You are in pitch black darkness. However you are being led by a guide throughout this whole hour of exhibition. At the end of it, when you walk out of the darkness and into the light, you realize the guide who led you throughout the whole process is actually a blind person.
Wow. I learnt something powerful today, it is like a revelation. People always have a stereotype that the blind are handicapped in our society. However, in the dark, we are actually the handicapped ones, and they are leading us! They maneuver best in darkness, they are in their element. How creative is that? Not only does it provide jobs for the blind community. It also techs people like us that being blind doesn't mean you are incapable. In fact, you can even SEE life from a different point of view.
The thing is you may be visually-abled, but have no vision in your life. Are you just dragging your feet to school, work, home, nd just living a routine lifestyle with no sense of achievement? Then you should stop what you are doing and reflect on this. Ar you happy with your life? What is it that you wanted to do but did not? Maybe it's time you go to Dialogue in the Dark.
I started thinking about it myself too. I don't want to look back at my life 10-20 years down the road and regret not living my life to the fullest. Not accomplishing what I set out to do. Not running with a vision and purpose.
See people, you may have your sight, but running life without a vision. It is like running a marathon but yet you are running the wrong direction. You can still run, full speed! At record-breaking time! But wait a minute, you're way off track!. Eventually you realise that you are further away from the finishin line, then you were at the start. Don't live life without a vision, a dream and a purpose. Life would be meaningless. Start dreaming again. Start beliving. Start visualizing. If you can see it, you can have it.
I love this quote:
"The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision".
-Helen Keller
(American Author, Political Activist, Lecturer, Born deaf and blind)
2 Corinthians 4:18, 5:7 (NKJV)
While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal..
For we walk by faith, not by sight.



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. shawnald
5:22 AM

Dialogue in the dark was an unforgettable experience for me. I have heard of this social enterprise since last year but have never really experienced it till that day. I was blinded by the blindness. Fear gripped me as soon as I stepped into the darkness. Never have I been so blind before. I have always pictured in my mind how the experience of DiD will seem like when the lecturers share with this social enterprise. In my mind, I thought of how the place will be like and how it will feel like. But when I really got to experience it, it was quite different from what I expected. I thought it would just be fun and exciting, but no.

After being in the dark after our sighted guide, Pei Bao, left us in the hands of our blind guide William, I realized the importance of our sight. For a moment, I was overwhelmed with fear. Fear, not because the darkness frightened me, fear because thoughts of being a blind one day struck me. I will never get to see my loved ones again. I will never get to see all the beautiful people that are close to me ever again. I remembered I remained silent for a moment. Those thoughts remained in my head throughout the experience. I began to put myself in the shoes of Williams. How painful it must have been to not be able to see his loved ones. It makes me reflect. Often, when we have conflict with our loved ones, we do not want to see them as deep down inside, we know that we will get to see them again, we CAN get to see them again. We take for granted the sight that God has given to us. But what if one day, God decides to take it away from us as we do not cherish it? The blind experience DiD provided was only an hour long. When we pay for the experience, at the back of our heads, we know that it is just for an hour. We will get to see again after an hour so we enjoyed ourselves in there. This is not the true feelings of a blind. He will never get to know when he will regain his sight. He may never.

During the journey inside, i enjoyed my invisibility though. The moment I kept quiet, I am invisible. My voice is the only thing that identifies me and helps others to indentify me. i was comfortably blind as I knew everyone around were my friends. But a real blind does not. In a world of strangers, he stands on his own, not knowing who is next to him at all. William did not know us, and he could not even see us at the end of the tour. However, he treated us nicely and he trusted us like how we trusted him.

There are no obstacles that cannot be overcome. As long as we believe and have faith, we can overcome anything. This is the greatest take away from the DiD experience.

I think DiD is a one of a kind social enterprise. No doubt that it hires only a few blind guides out of the total blind population in Singapore, but the strength of the is SE is creating values. It creates a value for the blind. It empowers the blind but letting them know that being blind does not make them weaker, but instead stronger than us. Everyone can eat with our sight, but not everyone can eat without our sight. It will be a good learning model as it has just started in Singapore and the students will have lots to do in terms of its marketing, adjustment and stuffs.

BZSE students can help as volunteers in DiD. On top of that, we can help in terms of marketing and its publicity as it not as well-known in Singapore yet. We can come up with new ideas of being in the dark like caught in the rain when you are blind, etc. Another way to contribute is very straight forward, which is to recommend the experience to our friends and ask them to try. =)



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Sunday, November 8, 2009 . Joshua, T01 - DiD Experience ((:
10:45 PM

Before the DiD tour, i did not expect much from it. i merely thought that it was just a tour of a dimly lighted place and a blind guide to bring us around.


I saw it as a normal social enterprise that brings jobs to the visually handicapped and serves its role as a business model.

I thought that the inside of DiD is just a place where not so much emphasis is put upon the details in the dark room as no one can see though.


DiD has indeed been a very interesting and mindset-changing experience for me.

My greatest take-away from this tour experience has to be the concept of: People are created differently and for different reasons. Some may be normal people like us, some may be blind, some may be handicapped, some may be retarded, but everyone single one of us is useful in one way or another. NEVER LOOK DOWN ON ANYONE.


The guides may be blind but upon entering the dark room, we are the ones depending on them and we are the ones who feel so useless, unable to move on our own, without their help. They guide us as if they are in the light and the ability to see while we are just mainly the visually handicapped. We are in their shoes for this short period of time and this caused me to change my mindset of the visually handicapped as people who do not contribute to the society and are just dependent on people.


DiD is a new thing in Singapore and as a social enterprise, this has given a doorway for the visually handicapped to feel confident once again and prove their worth for the society. Working on a business concept, i am sure that DiD is able to proceed on to changing the mindsets of the society and also provide SIngaporeans an opportunity to experience the life of being blind for a period of time. DiD Singapore has clearly gone through many considerations and many plannings to achieve what it has now. I believe that this social enterprise will be established in the years to come and will be accepted by SIngaporeans in one way or another.


The appearance of DiD has allowed a platform for BZSE and PCS students to work from as this is ultimately, called our own. Knowing the whole process and why DiD is being brought to Singapore as a social enterprise, it will allow us to be able to understand how a business is done as a social enterprise. BZSE and PCS students are able to treat DiD as a draft or an example to learn and refer to.

BZSE students can help in planning activities to promote DiD and also at the same time, help to market DiD to the society and to potential sponsors who are willing to bring it to a greater height.

We can also provide project ideas that are able to expand the whole concept of DiD, giving the social enterprise other ways to do businesses with the support they have for manpower, in terms of visually handicapped people.

We are also able to help with collaboration with other organizations that are related in one way or another so as to bring DiD to a greater platform.




Josh (: t01




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. Eugene T02 DID experience
10:14 PM

A week before visiting the Dialogue in the Dark (DID), I was trying to guess how the place was designed and what kind of situation I will experience during the tour. I was also thinking about how the tour guide, who is a visually impaired, would be able to lead us through the whole tour. The reason why I felt this way is because on the streets, I often witness visually impaired people having to rely on passer-by to get to their destination. Thus it made me wonder how they would be able to lead and guide us in the darkness.

After the tour, I was surprised by how well the tour guide could move around in the dark. One moment he was behind us doing a head count and the next moment he was already ahead of us guiding us to the next place. I was really admirable of him because when I was even having difficulty walking straight, he could actually move around so easily as there was a role switch and that he was able to see and we were the blind ones.

Another thing that I experience from the tour is the feeling of being blind. Although it was just an hour long of blindness, it made me realise several things. For once I felt the importance of our sense of sight. Without it, we would not be able to witness the wonderful and beautiful things that exist in this world. All we could was to try and visualise it. Going to this tour has definitely taught me an important lesson that is to treasure what we have now and do not take things for granted.

Many will say that they have already experienced how it feels to be blind through games that require them to be blindfolded or have witnessed a blackout before. But after going through the tour, I will tell you that those experience is nothing compared to the DID tour. DID is designed in such a way that you would be able to go through daily life routine while being blind by the darkness. That is the only way we can observe and get first hand information about how much difficulty a visually impaired person faced in everyday life.

Through DID, BZSE and PCS students can get a better understanding of what a social enterprise is and how it operates. And with chances of being an interns at DID during our final year, it allows us to gain experience before going working in other social enterprises when we graduate or even start our own social enterprise in the future.

I feel that DID is a successful social enterprise as they are able to help the visually impaired by hiring them to work as tour guide so that they can earn an income. This is because visually impaired people hardly can get a normal job as they are unable to see. Thus I feel that the only thing BZSE student can do is to help expand DID business and getting more customer. We can do this by helping in the marketing sector of DID to come up with new promotions to help increase the number of customers.
Not only that, we can retain existing customers by maybe setting up another DID in Singapore, with different types of experience, maybe such as studying in class, learning how to get onto a bus and so on. Only with more customers, DID will be able to expand its business and increase the number of visually impaired they can hire.


Eugene T02




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. Melissa's experience at Dialogue in the Dark
9:51 PM

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




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. Janell's DiD Experience
9:51 PM

My impression of DiD was just walking around in the dark, experiencing how the visually challenged go around in their everyday life. Never have I thought that it would be that much of a change, that much of a difference from our daily lives, until I have truly and personally travelled into the "dark".

Even though Mrs Choo gave us a brief explanation on what is DiD like, I still felt at a lost as to what was going to happen. Walking in the dark, did not seem scary to me, as i know we humans have eyes that will slowly adjust to the dark. But I did think that it would be a lot of bumping into people/things, and maybe even getting lost in the dark. Little did i know that it would be so dark that i could not see a single light or even a faint shadow. Raising up my five fingers did not help at all. I immediately felt the chill down my back and the panic that was coming on to me. But with the help of my group members, and Jason, our tour guide, I managed to calm myself down and try to take things as it come. Jason was very patient and very understanding to our feelings and he is always there when we need his assurance. His presense was like a calming pill to me. I am really grateful for my friends, and Jason for allowing me to go through this unforgettable and irreplaceable experience.

This tour has taught me how is it like to be lost and actually rely on others to help you along. I really admire how these visually disabled people are able to pick themselves up and go on in life after they lost their sight or not able to see at all. It takes alot of courage to face all these difficulties and put up with the biased eyes out there. Seeing how Jason is so confident, and cheerful, despite of his disability, is such a good insight into how these blind guides are able to challenge their boundaries and limits, to share with us, sighted people, how they actually feel and go through life. Their other senses are very developed, unlike us, who mostly depend on our sight, which causes us to be at a lost when we are in a dark environment. Without Jason, I think we will be like lost sheeps in the dark. Therefore, my greatest takeaway from this captivating experience is not to underestimate what they can do, and cherish them, be there for them when they do need us.

With DiD present in Singapore, many people will be able to get a glimpse into the life of a visually challenged person. In addition, even change their perspective of the visually challenged. The idea of depending on one another for help in our very different situations, would change how much they think they would need the visually challenged in situations like these. With this as a social enterprise, some visually challenged people would be able to have a chance in getting a job as a blind guide in DiD. This service/tour would benefit the entire visually challenged population in Singapore, and possibly Southeast Asia. With this idea, many other products and services would be able to spout, and it would be more beneficial as to spreading the name of Dialogue in the Dark further out to many other groups of people, and letting them know more about these visually challenged people among us. Doing the business model of a social enterprise, would credit all the fundings and the responses back to the heart where we get our blind guides from and serves as encouragements to them. Helping them move just one more step in life, just one push, might just be so crucial to them.

For our very own BZSE and PCS students, this learning model enables us to learn the practical side of a social enterprise, something out of the book, something other than the theory part. Its a great opportunity to open our eyes to something so real, and try running it for the blind guides, for touching and changing perspectives, and also for ourselves.

We can contribute by helping DiD spread the word, of our experience, how we felt and move around, how amazing it was for us. Not only in NP, but also within our family and friends. We can also come up with ideas and contributions like how we can further create other related products to compliment this idea, and also if we have any comments, we would be able to feedback and enable them to polish and bring what they have to offer to higher heights and a greater experience for the people to come.


Sincerely,
Janell, BZSE T01



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. Francine's Entry ^^
9:37 PM

Having researched DiD before the tour, I knew that this experience would be a thriller for my senses. The notion of having my sight taken away from me, and having to depend on my other 4 senses was exciting; and to be honest, really scary for me. Excited because I would get to experience something new and interesting, and scary because I have never experienced such a state before.
What DiD Singapore gave me was what I expected, and more.
I never expected the feelings; the sensations of being in complete and absolute darkness to be suffocating yet exciting at the same time. Honestly, if one was Achluophobia(phobia of darkness) and did not have the confidence to place his/her trust in their visually handicapped guide, I would say not to go for this tour. If not for the instructions of Jason, the wonderful guide assigned to my group of 8, and the loud singings of my group, should I have been in the tour alone with no one around and have nothing on my body but just a guide stick, I couldn't have been able to make my way through the exhibition and out back to the light.
From this experience I am reminded again: If I am ever lost in a world of darkness with all my 5 senses intact and unharmed, there is still the hope of me making my way of this abyss of darkness and back into the light where i can see things again. But where is the hope for seeing everything in the light for the permenantly blind?

DiD serves as a superb model of a social enterprise to bring attention to the visually handicapped community in any society. It reminds that these people are not entirely useless as what we "normal" people would often stereotype them to be. As one person in my team has said: "We may be kings in the presence of light, but we are not the kings in the presence of the dark." We certainly need help in navigating our way through complete darkness, and so do they in light when they are stripped of their sense of sight. Such negative and unjustified perspectives of our fellow visually handicapped friends should be addressed and corrected.



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. PeiQing's DID experience!
9:23 PM

In the past, I had experience dining with a blindfold but it was not as dark because I could still see some light under the blindfold. Hence, this trip was mysterious to me for the reason that I had no idea what was lined up ahead for us and I had never experienced being in total darkness. The thought of it made me feel frightened as I had the thinking that I might get lost or even fall in the midst of the tour.

However the DID tour was not as scary as I had expected and it turned out to be a memorable and captivating experience for me. I also enjoyed the mini-activities because it helps to be mentally prepared for the tour. The activities taught me that our sense of taste weakens when we cannot see what we are eating. When we are about to enter the dark room, they provided us each with a walking cane and taught us how to hold them properly. I understood more about what the blind are going through once we entered the dark room with the walking cane. Our guide, Wesley was very experienced and he gave made us felt assured and safe even though we are like a flock of lost sheep wandering in the darkness. I was glad that I did not have to go through the trip alone but with my friends because with them around I feel more secured. The tour has taught me how to view being blind in a positive light because this trip was more of fun than really what the blind really face in the society. In real life, they have no walls to depend on when they are outside unlike when we are in the dark room. To add on, they also had to learn how to feel and adapt by themselves, which I felt was really admirable! It really takes a lot of courage to accept the fact that they had lost their eyesight and move on with their lives positively. Personally, I enjoyed the boat ride the most because it was a very joyful experience to be riding in boat but you cannot see how it looks like. The different locations such as the market place, the statue of Stamford Raffles and the Café triggered my imagination and I was picturing how they looked like during the trip. I thought it was good leaving the place without really seeing how it looks like because I can keep those images of imagination into my memory. I sincerely feel that everyone should have a chance to go for this trip because it really is very different from other field trips or holidays where you depend more on your sense of sight to see and admire the scenery around them. They should try using depending more on their other senses, such as their hearing and smell to have a different perspective of way people view things.

I feel that DID is a wonderful learning model for BZSE and PCS students. DID is a very innovative example that we can follow and help us develop our creativity. It also gives us encouragement that we can come up with more of such social enterprises to help those disadvantaged in the society by employing them into new formed social enterprises!

Lastly, we can help to contribute to the DID social enterprise by telling our fellow mates in school or even out of school about DID and its purposes. Furthermore we can also help to come up with advertising campaigns for them and market DID to more Singaporeans. Together we can help and create more change to improve the lives of the marginalized!

PeiQing
BZSE T01




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. Alison T01 - A new perspective. A journey in the Dark
9:21 PM

I was rather apprehensive knowing that we had to tour around in the dark. However, things weren't as bad as I thought because I had a group of friends with me. One source of comfort was from our tour guide, Wesley. Although I couldn't see him, He was always close for reach. Because of his understanding and assurance, I was able to feel secure in the dark without any feelings of uncertainty and helplessness.

Personally, one of the biggest takeaways for me is that, when I reflect upon the journey with Wesley, I do not see a man bound with handicaps, but rather, someone who is determined and courageous to break the notion of limitation and step into a place of possibilities. Although there are some who say that darkness is the absence of light, I think that light can be an absence of true humanity, because all that I've experienced in the dark was nothing judgemental and prejudice but rather, sincerity and helpfulness.

I feel that having DID Singapore in NP is a great milestone for our school. I believe that this is a stepping stone for us, pioneer students from BZSE to truly appreciate how to run and sustain a social enterprise alongside creating awareness for our beneficiaries. I see this as a platform for us to reach out and serve our community in need. I certainly think that PCS & BZSE will learn a lot from this inspiring model.

In my point of view, the best way we can contribute to DID is to apply the knowledge and skills that we’ve learnt in class. These may include skills such as Marketing, IT application, Principles of Accounts, Social Psychology, Financial Management, just to name a few.

To sum it all, through this one-hour-life-changing journey, I have come to realise that it isn't so much the handicaps, but what we do with them. I've also come to appreciate and cherish my eye sight.

I believe that it is time...
We stop feeling pathetic for those who are less fortunate than us.

But rather, time to join our hearts & minds to...
Empower and launch them out into their destiny.

With awe,
Alison, BZSE T01



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. Thyeleng's DID experience T02
8:54 PM

Before the DiD tour, I always thought that walking in the dark was an easy thing. Such that I even tried walking with my eyes close. However, it was totally different when I went for the tour. Walking in the dark was definitely more difficult then walking with your eyes closed.

From the DiD tour experience, I learnt that a person's weakness can actually become his/her strength in a different environment. In the dark, when our sight have become useless, we have to rely on our other sense which we are not so familier with to lead our way. However, this was not a problem for visually impaired patients. Without them, I doubt that we could survive the first half of the journey in the dark. Thus, I feel that we should not discriminate them because of their disability. In some other situation, they can also be very valuable.

From my point of view, I feel that using DiD Singapore as a social enterprise and learning model for BZSE and PCS students is a very useful tool for us to understand how a social enterprise can operate with the effective and efficient use of their resources (the visually impaired patients). Letting the visually impaired patients learn how to be independant and being able to guide us through the dark was an important factor which i think leads to the success of this project. With this, it would make this project sustain not because of its social cause.

BZSE students can help promote DiD to their friends and family.

Done by:
koh thye leng



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. Weiling T02 - DID experience =)
7:07 PM

1. Before the tour, we actually had a talk on DID by Mrs Choo. She told us about the overall tour on how it is going to be like and some of the ‘attractions’ that we can experience throughout the entire tour. It did make me wonder how we would actually feel walking in a room with complete darkness. This has made me even more excited to go for the tour the next day. Though I am scared of darkness, the way Mrs Choo has described the tour to us has indeed triggered the excitement in us to visiting DID. I believe that the tour will be very fun and inspiring for all of us.

During the tour, I remember feeling very insecure and worried. The entire place was in COMPLETE DARKNESS. Even if you were to put your hands in front of yourself, you will realize that you could not even see anything at all. The funniest thing was that I started crying after stepping in. I will try to grab Mabel’s and Singyee’s hands and everything that allows me to feel secure. Thus, communication is vital for us to know our ways. I am very glad to have Jason as our blind guide. He was really very friendly and nice. He allows us to feel comfortable with the place and even without our eyes, we could feel the place with our heart and also allowing ourselves to imagine how the place is like. Throughout the entire trip, Jason explained the place to us and this let us to feel calmer and slowly enjoying the tour. We have learnt so many things from this tour itself and especially from Jason. We sat down at the café in DID and he told us about his personal story. Jason is now 30 years old and he only lost his sight three years ago. Instead of feeling despair and becoming dependent on others, he chose to stand up on his feet and get on with life. He came to know about this job and agreed to be one of the blind guides in DID. I really admire him a lot. He made me realized that even though there can be many ups and downs in our lives, the most important thing is to be able to let things go and appreciate life in another way. So why should other people discriminate them? If we think it again, the visually handicapped are actually those that show us hope in our lives. I remember we had a post reflection talk with one of the interns in DID, Feng Kai. He mentioned something which I totally agreed with him. In the sighted world, we are the kings and the queens and we tend to forget about those that are less fortunate than us. However, during the tour when everything is in darkness, who are the kings and queens then? I believe that everyone ought to know that all humans are equal and that everyone should be given the equal chances in life. Many times, we tend to take things for granted but after this trip, I have learnt to be more positive in life and to appreciate my sight better.

I feel that it is great setting up DID as a social enterprise. Firstly, there can be more jobs opening up for the visually handicapped and creating awareness of the marginalized people in our community. When more people come to know about DID and after the experience, I am sure they will be able to appreciate things better and to be able to empathize with the blinds. Through this, I hope that discrimination on the visually handicapped can be reduced and more job opportunities can be opened up for them. It is a great idea to have this as a tour and implementing charges for the tickets. DID can thus be able to sustain itself as a social enterprise and also as an educational institute. DID definitely serves as a learning platform for PCS and BZSE students. I really look up to this social enterprise and it does help us to understand that we too can play our parts in helping the marginalized sector in the society.

BZSE students can help them to do marketing! We can share our experiences with our friends, family, relatives and etc and invite them to come down for a tour. If not, we can also find working opportunities with DID.


Chow Wei Ling, T02





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. Glory's Take
7:04 PM

I thought the tour to be a very enlightening and humbling experience for both my peers and I. Sight is something many regard as a basic necessity, 'as a matter of fact', and a part of us. But for many in the community, sight is not a part but apart from them. I was really curious about how the various places of the tour will be like, and also wondered how I'll do walking inside. Will I fall down or trip over a curb? Will I walk around in circles? I wouldn't want to do that.

My greatest takeaway let me see how limited or unlimited our lives can be when we choose how we are going to face and overcome life's circumstances. The absence of light may hinder our sight, yet the presence of sight may hinder our flight. Even in the bright, we undermine our might because we look at what's the barrier ahead of us and cause us to pull back in fear. At DiD, the role reversing experience allows us to understand that a disability does not mean incapability. When you enter DiD, it is not just about being wow-ed at how able the blind are in the dark, or just knowing more about these individuals that 'stand out in the crowd', but about having empathy and social inclusion in our community so that those without sight can develop their potential too.

I think DiD's function as a social enterprise is apt to inculcate employment and empowerment for a marginalized community. On top of allowing employment, this is a platform for our community to be aware and understanding about losing sight. It shows the world that DiD's beneficiaries do not depend on mere handouts, but make an impact with their skills and ability to lead abundant lives. This goes to show the distinct difference between a not for profit organization and a social enterprise. The latter works on the concept of sustainability and a system that is capable of bringing charities to become self-sufficient and effective in fulfilling their cause.

This is a suitable learning model of students of PCS and BZSE as it is a living example of what seems to be a possibly green concept (social entrepreneurship) in Singapore. From the aspects of empowerment through employment, the opportunity for the blind guides to shine in the darkness, and the capacity for students to be interns at the final semester, it is a good approach to put what has been taught in class to practice. As a learning model, students of BZSE can understand how addressing a social cause with a profit making business is like. Meanwhile, students of PCS can observe how social stigma can undermine the potential and development of a marginalized community.

BZSE people can make use of what has been taught during the semesters to add value to the functioning and cause of DiD. From helping to create much awareness to the general public about social entrepreneurship, to marketing DiD's cause so that life is enhanced for their beneficiaries, students can put their competence and skills into action to let DiD become a world class channel that eradicates social stigma towards the absence of sight. Through word of mouth and genuine experiences shared, the zest and power of DiD can make an impact on our community to a substantial extent. Having gone through the DiD experience ourselves, we can also evoke (apart from our sight) the other senses of our society to shed some light on the darkness of their minds.

Glory Tan
BZSE T02




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. Jonathan T01 - DID Singapore, somewhere you wanna go
3:37 PM

When entering the exhibition, I thought to myself, “well… how dark can it be?” and confidently I stepped into the exhibition, but just after three to four steps into the exhibition, I started grabbing onto my friend who was in front of me and kept on asking whether if the one behind me was still there. I felt helpless, because for the very first time, there is no difference from having your eyes close or open. This is the first time in my life my eyes can’t lead me in the direction that I should be going. Instead all I had was a walking stick and the voice of the guide. After being introduced to our guide Helemy, He welcomed us and after which he asked us to explore our surrounding for ourselves. I did not really dare to leave my group of friends and explore, instead I held onto the one who is in front of me and followed him wherever he went. I was afraid that I will be lost in the dark and I will never be able to find my way out. But after much encouragement from Helemy, telling us if ever we are lost, we just got to walk towards his voice, I took up the courage to just wander off. Using the walking stick to feel what in front of me and whenever one of our group mates found something, our guide will always say “call out to the others so that they know where you are.”, and the rest of us will move towards his/her voice. Before going for the tour, I didn’t expect much from the tour. I felt that it was just walking in the dark, never did I expect the tour to be “that dark” so much so that I needed to depend on the guide’s voice and not my sight.

I think one of the greatest take away for me is to have a conversation with the guide in the dark. HE introduced himself and shared about his life and we found out that he was not born blind but was blind because of some tumor in the brain and all. I asked him, how was it like when he knew that he is going to be blind and how did he feel when he woke up that very day in the hospital without your sigh. He told us he was prepared and quite positive about things. He carried on by saying, it is to find something positive in the negative. That really caught me, I thought to myself, if I became blind I think I will feel all helpless and probably I will fall into depression. Just minutes in the tour and I was feeling all helpless and scared made me realize how much I depended on my sight and through the tour experience I then realize how much dependency we have put in our sight, without it we feel scared and helpless, imagine those who become blind permanently, it must have took them a lot of courage to carry on living. Not being able to see a single thing, going through landmarks of Singapore in the exhibition, it seemed so fascinating, touching the tree, touching the statue of Stanford Raffles, touching a car, fruits and many other things. It felt so different touching those things and feeling them without our vision. This made me realize that our sight is something that is given and somehow we took for granted of this gift given to us and think that it is something which we deserve, while others need to live everyday without it and continue to live as if one has sight.

I think DID Singapore is like a platform, a benchmark for BZSE and PCS students. To set a certain standard for the students, that in the future this is something the students can do and do it better. It is a statement to BZSE students especially that, a successful social enterprise is do-able and possible in Singapore. One of the ways which BZSE students can contribute to DID Singapore is through publicizing it to our friends and family members, encouraging them to come and experience the tour and remind them of the blind community in Singapore.


Jonathan Lau, T01




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. Ronny's reflection
2:16 PM

Before the DiD tour, I thought the tour would be quite boring,
because we would be just walking round and round inside.
As it's pure darkness inside the tour, we won't feel the excitement and thrill,
I thought we would be feeling fear and scared, that's it, nothing else.
I also thought that we would finish the tour very fast as from the outside, it looks small.

My greatest take-away from the DiD tour experience is that, the visually impaired are actually the KINGS, in the dark, while we are the KINGS, in the light. So in the light, we can help them, whereas in the dark, we rely on them a lot.

I think that DiD Singapore is a very important stepping stone in Singapore,
to really show people that, Social enterprises are very useful and helpful,
they can actually give such an important job to the visually impaired,
and they are doing it so well !
Showing people that, not everyone is useless and can't contribute to the society!
It can also help in motivating BZSE & PCS students as in, how they can further help the marginalized and having the society accepting them and respect them.

BZSE students can contribute to the DiD social enterprise by,
promoting DiD to their friends, as we have the first-hand experience of the tour,
we know how it feels like,
and we were like suddenly enlightened or shocked, that the visually impaired is so,
helpful to us and we were so dependent on them inside the dark !

We can also try to get more sponsors or companies,
to participate in the tour, so that they understand how it feels like.
To suddenly feel blindness and yet having the confidence to carry on with their life.
So that, they can help out in expanding DiD Singapore ! : )


- Ronny Lim,
BZSE Year 2





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. DiD by Sor SinYee BZSE T01
1:49 PM

Before the DiD tour, the first thing came to my mind was that who would want to pay so much for the ticket only to enter an exhibition whose only visual image was jet-black darkness. To my surprise, for the first time in my life, I was relying on a total stranger for guidance in complete darkness. By comparison, my everyday life seemed so strange. Later I was to discover that my faithful guide – Wesley - was a blind man. And to his credit, it was him, and not me, who was leading the way!

Before the exhibition I had been to parks, crossed streets, shopped at markets and visited bars and cafes, but on that day with him in that pitch-black void, those oh-so normal experiences seemed unusual and foreign to me. Shocked, curious & nervous, I was gradually awakening to the most impressive discovery of my life. As far back as I could remember, I had never felt so small, humbled and yet, somehow, more connected and bigger than ever before.

Even though they live their life with some restrictions, in this place which has the theme of darkness, they do not require assistance from those who are sighted, but instead offer assistance as a guide to those who are not familiar with the dark. At this exhibition darkness is a symbol of difference, different ways of life, and understanding the differences as they aim to provide a platform for contact between people from different backgrounds.

By swapping rolls, I come to realize that the differences between a life without eyesight compared to the life we use to live, and get to know that the people who were judged in a different light by their disability are the same as people like us - the only differences being common human universal themes.


This exhibition can show people about humanity's potential for an abundant life in the darkness that can't be seen normally in one's daily life. This simulated experience helps to increase people's respect for and tolerance of those who are different. The darkness becomes a place for unencumbered communication and a beneficial exchange.

This exhibition also provides a valuable experience and a new feel. It is a must to experience it at least once!

SINYEE T01



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. Cheryl T01 - My experience in DiD
1:14 PM


credits to here.
A light in the dark.

The DiD tour did manage to fulfil my expectations and more. I had visualized wandering around in darkness, something not unlike school night walks where we had to grab on to the person in front of us. During the DiD tour, we got to hold on to a cane and experienced sweeping it around on unfamiliar terrain, totally having no idea of where we were. During the tour, I was wondering how the visually impaired managed to survive this. At least we went into the tour knowing full well that we would be thrown into darkness, but the blind certainly did not plan to be blind. My guide was Jason, who lost his sight at age 25 after living a life with light and colour. It just struck me that suddenly entering a world without light must have been really scary.
While my group was shouting out random things and singing songs during the tour, Jason (as we could hear and feel) was super comfortable with the noise and us. It must have been really difficult to be with a group of complete strangers. He chatted casually and we found that even though he couldn’t see things, at least he was more at ease in the dark than we were.


I suppose the greatest take-away from the experience was the fact that we’re not unequal. Certainly we might have an easier life in normal circumstances because we are able to see, but when the situations are reversed, well, it was pretty scary to because you’re really unsure of what you do and where you go.


I think that DiD Singapore is a fabulous learning platform for students in the BZSE and PCS diplomas. Not only do we really get to ‘see’ their way of life but also feel what they must feel all the time. It really isn’t just about knowing how the sightless live in the world of light, but really getting there and experiencing it for real. BZSE students can contribute to DiD in many ways. Honestly. As a new social enterprise, students will be able to market it and be ambassadors for it.
Cheryl



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. Amanda Neo - T01
12:28 PM

My DID experience is entitled as ‘The blinds colors of life.’

Before stepping into DID, I had this preconceived notion that the visually handicapped are a group of people whose lives are filled with dull colors. I do not mean in a literal sense that they are unable to see and therefore they do not get to experience bright colors. Instead, my thoughts are that these people tend to see the dull side in life which stems from the constant injustice that they feel due to their disability.

However, I beg to differ after my insightful experience. This is because the visually handicapped in DID showed me the wonderful colors of life. The visually handicapped are just like anyone of us, whose lives are filled with an array of colors. They are driven people who aim to live life to the fullest in spite of their disability. Hence, their supposed handicap does not pose as an obstacle for them if they persevere till the end.

Now, I shall share my DID experience that led me to this conclusion.

At the start of our DID program, my group had the opportunity to play some DID activities before stepping into the darkness. First and foremost, I thoroughly enjoyed myself and the activities gave us a glimpse on what it is like to be visually handicapped. During the activities, I tasted the wrong flavor of sweets and I could not figure out certain alphabets based on my sense of touch. Stepping into their shoes reaffirmed my initial thoughts on the tremendous amount of difficulties faced by visually handicapped.

Soon, it was time to enter the darkness. A timid person like me tingled with a potent mix of fear and apprehension at the start of the journey. But, as we progressed on in the darkness with Jason, our visually handicapped guide, he quelled my fear with his constant encouragement. When we reached the end, Jason shared with us his life journey, and I was truly inspired by him. His positive spirit stirred my guilty conscience as I perpetually harped on trivial matters in life that is totally not worth expanding time and energy on as life has so much more to offer.

In my opinion, DID Singapore is a social enterprise that will give a new look to Singapore Social Enterprises as DID is a new concept whereby the beneficiaries are not only at the receiving end but are also responsible for the growth of the social enterprise. Hence it works both ways. It promotes the ideology of social enterprises and that is, we are not charitable organizations, but we are a business entity which aims to do business with a social purpose.

As regards to the BZSE and PCS students, DID acts as a platform to rediscover our objectives for both courses. For the PCS students DID will give them the opportunity to interact with the visually handicapped, thus having the taste of working with people of disabilities. Through this interaction, they may possibly ponder on what they can do to reach out to people with disabilities. As a student in BZSE, DID poses to me as a stepping stone to being a social entrepreneur, as I can put myself in a social entrepreneur’s shoes, hence thinking like one. With DID, BZSE students can practice on what they have learn, and gain the plentiful experience that we need as a BZSE student.

As a social enterprise model, I think there is a large pool of potential waiting to be unleashed and this mission is the responsibility of BZSE students. I feel that the BZSE students can contribute to DID social enterprise in a few areas. For example, we can devise methods to increase the publicity of DID in Singapore. BZSE students can volunteer for internships in DID as it will be a good chance to learn the ropes of being a social entrepreneur. Besides, we can plan events for DID to increase awareness in Ngee Ann itself. Essentially, my idea is for the BZSE students to be the walking ambassadors of DID! As, I strongly believe that the BZSE students have to believe that DID can work in order for DID social enterprise to expand to greater heights.

Amanda Neo

BZSE YEAR 2 STUDENT

CLASS T01




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Welcome to the blog of BZSE 2008 about our takeaways after visiting the one-and-only Dialogue-in-the-Dark (DiD) exhibition in Singapore, at Ngee Ann Polytechnic.
BZSE 2008 represents the pioneer cohort of students from the Diploma in Business & Social Enterprise (BZSE), the one-and-only such diploma programme in Singapore.

BZSE is housed in the School of Humanities in Ngee Ann Polytechnic. It's the coolest diploma ever - we learn about creating businesses with a social cause.

Our whole cohort had a really great tour in the DiD exhibition, and it was so fantastic we decided to post up our experiences as a blog to share the experiences we had during the tour.
We hope that after reading our reflections, you will consider coming down to DID yourself! Just as we have been impacted, we believe Your life will never be the same again. (=

To find out more about the DiD tours, you can call the Booking Hotline @ 64606222 or check out the website at www.dialogueinthedark.com.sg Navigate around using the tabs above.


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