By Tan Siew Ling

- A partially blind student in Bedok South Secondary School

From Pen Stokes to Raised Dots.

At the age of seven, I enrolled in Maha Bodhi Primary School, one of the few schools renown for its strong Chinese culture. My formal Chinese lessons began and to my delight, those few periods per week proved to be interesting and fun. Naturally, Chinese became my favorite, motivating me to perform well all these years. As an added impetus, I enjoyed learning new words and was often commended by my teachers for my neat writings.

However, my life took on a drastic turn towards the end of 1997. It all began when objects around me appeared as blurred images. I found myself struggling to decipher words written on the blackboard. Thinking that my glasses were beginning to fail me, my mother approached an optician to seek for more powerful lenses. He then advised my mother to consult an eye specialist, explaining that my problem could not be rectified by another pair of glasses. The diagnosis of the specialist was more than unexpected. It unveiled that I was suffering from weak optic nerves, an incurable cause of gradual blindness.

True enough, my vision deteriorated rapidly. I could barely read words on the blackboard when seated in the front row. Not long after, even the familiar faces of my family members did not register naturally in me. Step by step, with support from my family, classmates and teachers, I learned to make little adjustments to my usual lifestyle. In particular, I had to rely more intently on my other senses.

For instance, I could no longer read my textbooks and my storybooks, a hobby I developed as a kid. They had to be dictated to me by my parents and friends. At times, teachers and friends would help me record my answers during daily assignments and examinations. In addition, my Chinese strokes began to lose their precision and neatness. Aware of my passion for the language, my dad patiently guided my hand to trace out all the new Chinese words I encountered. In this way, I continued all my lessons and completed my primary education.

Coping with nine subjects in a new environment with my blindness were concerns I faced during my first few months in Broadrick Secondary School. Feeling the pressure, I transferred to Bedok South Secondary School, a center for blind students in Singapore. With assistance from the blind-resource teacher in the school, I began to use Braille and other blind-related equipment to manage my work. However, I was shocked to learn that I would be exempted from the Chinese language. I was told that blind students in Singapore generally did not read this subject.

I felt greatly disappointed as it had hardly occurred to me to give up the subject as a result of my blindness. But my vision was then reduced to sheer light perception which made it impossible for me to continue normal writing. At this juncture, I was introduced to the Independent Society of the Blind (Singapore). After knowing my situation, they willingly offered their support to help me continue with this subject. I was truly relieved.

Besides giving me Chinese Braille lessons, the Society helped me Braille my Chinese textbooks and transcribe my test and examination papers. Since April, a volunteer of the Society, Mdm Lan Mingxia, would come to my house each week to revise my Chinese lessons with me. Moreover, I was recently given a computer system by the Society to allow me practice a Chinese software. It is hoped that I could use this software to handle my Chinese assignments and examinations in future.

By now, I am more confident and familiar with Chinese Braille. Though I often miss the joy of writing Chinese characters, I find Chinese Braille interesting in its own right. As an example, it trains me to be more sensitive in my Chinese pronunciation, an important aspect I had neglected in the past. I thank the Society for such opportunities and hope that I can help to introduce Chinese Braille to other blind people in Singapore after my graduation.

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