Elective posting at Malaysia's Association for the Blind

Honestly, I never spared much thought for the blind. Except maybe those times when we were forced to play the blindfold trust game where you’re blindfolded and your trusted friend guides you through some obstacles. I never not had that tirade of feelings.

It begins with the fluttering of butterflies, which are disconcerted by the ominous darkness. The darkness, so dreadfully absolute. That nagging insecurity, is like a rising tide of dread, so ready to drown and take one under. Because of that, I was almost knocked out cold once... Either that or one of my 'trusted friend' led me straight to a pole.

But besides thanking my lucky stars for being blessed with vision, I never really thought about the blind. And so, after much deliberation, my dear and I decided to do a one month elective at the Malaysia's Association for the Blind. The original plan was the national zoo but after being informed that we were given the option to choose whether we wanted to work with the

tigers

or the bears
well... we decided that we're not that into animals. Besides, we could always adopt a fish or a dog next time.
less chance of getting mauled, mangled and eaten

Oh, I just can't resist telling this joke..sidetrack a little but it's really funny! My dad read it online once..

okay, so there's the economic recession, people were losing jobs and this man, so desperate for a job came to the zoo.
Man: Do you have a job for me?
Zoo manager: Sure. Just wear this costume, swing from branch to branch, make some noise, eat some bananas..you think you can manage that?
Man: Sure!

So there it was, the man had a job and did that for weeks. One day though, he swung too far and landed in the lion's den. The man was so afraid and screamed and screamed and..well you get the picture.

The lion was moving towards him and the man was still screaming when the lion said,' Stop screaming! You're going to get us both fired!'

=))))

Okaaay...so back to the story of going to the blind association. We met a couple of retired blind individuals who have been working there during their spare time to earn some extra cash. They are so friendly people who have such good memory, even regarding high school geography! And to imagine that they've never seen a map or an atlas. As we do some work at the library as well, we manage to check out the Braille books. As Braille has to be typed on thicker paper, the books are so thick, that they have to be divided into volumes. Readers Digest is made up of 3 volumes, each about two inches thick. And upon curiosity, I decided to check out War and Peace. 14 volumes, where each volume is 4 inches thick. Carry it around and you have a bullet proof jacket.

I take my hats off to them. They never fail to amaze me with ways of overcoming their lack of vision. And I kept thinking to myself, it never even occured to me how they manage to do certain things like:

* Have you ever thought how the blind eat?
* Or apply makeup?
* Or know which train/bus to take?

Things that we took for granted. It's ironic how communicating with the blind actually taught me how to see. =) I guess for all my eyesight, I was blind.

By the way, the library of Malaysia's Association of the Blind is looking for Malay volunteers to help record the Malay novels/books to be made into audio books.