The Day I Went Blind for 90 Minutes

Presenting "The Day I Went Blind for 90 Minutes", in conjunction with the Eye Care Week 2011. ^_*

Our greatest appreciation to 'blind' girl, Anna, and 'blind' boy, Rainier, for willingly and readily putting their lives 'at risk' for the completion of this task. *clap, clap, clap* (",)


REFLECTIONS

The 'Blind' Classmate: ANNA

Today was the start of Eye Care week in school. It was one of the most memorable days for me as well. To commemorate the start of this special week, Mr Tan selected Rainier and I to pretend to be blind for a period of one and a half hours. The person sitting next to us was assigned to be our helper. In my case, the kind souls who helped me in my one and a half hours of literal darkness were Naomi, Tanya and Jia Le.

Mr Tan first placed a blindfold over our eyes. Rainier and I were then asked to mark a Science worksheet without the smallest ray of light. Jia Le and Naomi helped me greatly in this aspect by telling me where to place the crosses, ticks and marks. In the middle of it all, Mr Tan suddenly asked Rainier and I to stand up and walk to the front of the class without any physical help. When I finally felt my way to the front, he asked two other unknown classmates to turn us around in circles a few times. Not surprisingly, he asked us to make our way back to our seats after making us loose our sense of direction. Amongst all the commotion, shouting and directing done by other classmates to go left right, up and down, I strained my ears and followed the directions of Tanya and Naomi, making my way safely back to my seat.

Thereafter, we went to the Science lab on level three. On this arduous journey, Shash, another kind soul, helped me down the stairs. In the Science lab Shash led me through a sea of chairs and I got to my seat without a scratch.

Next, we were asked to conduct a Science experiment in our groups. Throughout this, Tanya and Naomi helped me through every step of the way, instructing me in areas such as where to place my pen and what to write down.

One and a half hours were finally over and the glorious time of the removal of the blindfold arrived. Once the blindfold was off, it took my eyes a few seconds to get used to the light. When I looked down, I fully comprehended how much I needed my eyes for anyone to decipher my writing.

Overall, throughout this experience, I have realised that other than sight, your other five senses are also vital for survival. Other than that, I now know that my friends and most of my acquaintances are not fair weathered ones.

Although personally I do not hope to have a second experience like this, I hope others will get at least one chance to experience something similar as I think that anyone who goes through such an ordeal without the help of his or her friends, will not ever dare to not take good care of their eyes.


Helping ANNA, The 'Blind' Classmate: JIA LE

Today during lesson, we did an eye-care activity. During that activity, I learnt a few important things. Two of my friends had been blind-folded for one and a half hour. As I was sitting beside Anna, who was blind-folded, I had to help her do some things.

The time she was blind-folded, we were marking a Science paper. She was marking it very untidily as she could not see, so I ended up helping her make it neater.

Next, we collected money. Naomi, Anna’s friend helped her pass the money to the class monitor. After collecting the money, Mr. Tan made them walk around the classroom aimlessly and took photos of them.

Lastly, they made their way down to the Science lab. Both of them walked down the stairs without tripping. After doing the Science experiments in the lab, they finally could take off the blind-folds.

Today, I learnt that helping a person that cannot see is very difficult and that we have to take good care of our eyes so that we will not be scared that nobody will help us.

If I were blind, and did not have anyone to trust, I could not live for long and would become very frustrated. I would keep banging into things as I could not see a thing.


The 'Blind' Classmate: RAINIER

Ever since that Wednesday, Anna and I have learnt and been stressed on the importance of our eyesight. First of all, I discovered that being blind is not that fun at all. You immediately become an easy target, and it is almost impossible to find out who poked you, pinched your arm or took your stuff. I also had an extremely hard time trying to find out where I was. With people shouting and pulling you, it makes it just worse.

Another problem that I faced was trying to figure out what was going on around me. Several times had I heard people around me sniggering and murmuring. I also found it hard to understand what we were doing in class. One minute I was trying to mark a paper, another I find the paper gone and someone shouting at my ear for three bucks. I had to get out of my seat and pay the money myself. After groping around the classroom I finally found my way. After paying the money, I was instructed to go back to my seat and the same thing happened again.

I soon faced yet another problem - packing up my bag and walking out of the classroom. I was then dragged to an unknown place. I was puzzled. No one explained what had happened. I guessed that I was in the Science room, for Mr Tan had been explaining some Science experiments before I left the room.

However, I did could not guess which part of the room I was in. I could feel people pushing and dragging me in the room and arguing among themselves. By this time, I was feeling really annoyed and upset that I had no idea what was happening around me.

After this experience, I truly am astonished that the blind have not all been sent to mental hospitals. From now onwards I will treasure my eyesight even more, and will try to cut down near work activities (which is quite hard given the amount of homework I have daily) and also try to take fifteen minutes of eye-break every hour of near work I do.


Helping RAINIER, The 'Blind' Classmate: SIQI

Today is a part of the eye-care week the school has prepared for us. For this special week, Mr Tan has decided to create an interesting activity. First, he wanted to find “volunteers”, or a better term, victims. The victims were to wear a blindfold for one and a half hours straight. The two unlucky classmates are Anna and Rainier.

Then, Mr Tan told us that the person sitting next to the victim has to lead him/her around. Unfortunately, I was the one sitting next to Rainier. He was tied up tightly with a blindfold and could not see a thing. Worse still, we were marking a Science paper, too!

The next 40 minutes consisted of me telling Rainier to move his pen “left”, “right”, “up” or “down”, and I hardly even heard what Mr Tan said at all. Worse still, Rainier’s fair-weathered friends like Pradeep, Jason and Kai Xiang tried to make him do all the wrong things, like taking the wrong pen and pasting a “Do not disturb” sign on him, which will also get me into trouble.

After the marking, we were to go to the Science lab. It took eternity for Rainier just to pack up and find his way to the door. Finally, though, we reached the Science lab. It turned out to be the wrong lab! Imagine the overwhelming frustration I was feeling!

When we reached the right lab, Rainier did not bring his Science workbook and he sat with his group and stared at nothing but inky darkness (it seems) for the whole Science lab lesson.

At the end of the lesson, Anna and Rainier finally could remove their blindfolds. It was also noticed that Rainier’s blindfold was worn upside-down. Well, I am just glad that it was finally over. I will never take part in that frustrating ordeal again.