PsychWeek Activities: Raising Awareness for the Blind

Written by Nurul Jannah

21 November 2017

PsychWEEK was an interesting week filled with activities! This year we focused on children with special needs and had talks focused on three main areas which were Down syndrome, APSN (Association for Persons with Special Needs), and dyslexia. We also had activities allowing students to have an experience of sorts in relation to disabilities such as blindness and deafness. This is to raise awareness of how difficult it is for those living with disabilities and make the public more aware of how they should be treated (which is like everybody else!). We should never look down upon somebody else due to their disability, and instead embrace difference. We should be looking at disabilities as opportunities to make their lives easier, whether by improving technology or trying other methods to communicate. For blindness, we created an obstacle to let students experience some difficulties those suffering from blindness would go through.

The obstacle has three main parts or activities that participants go through to get a small feel of how it may be for a blind person. Firstly, there is an activity where participants are required to put together a three by three puzzle, blindfolded, of course (pictured below)! The few participants that tried it out repeatedly made groans of disapproval since it was tough to do it without sight. When asked, many of them said it was difficult since you have to memorise the feel of every shape in order to find which sides can be connected and if it will fit in with others as well. They had a hard time keeping track of which corners they had placed and whether they were placed in the correct spot. Since there were four corners, they could not be sure whether the four pieces were in the correct spot, which makes it difficult when they have to put in the adjoining middle pieces. Some even asked the student facilitator with them for help or hints!

Next is the identifying station. This is where participants are given daily objects to feel and then they have to guess what the item is. They were a total of ten items on the table. This is the station that many participants complete easily, despite being blindfolded. The purpose of this station was to aid in making the participant realize how precious their sense of sight is. The reason which the participants were able to breeze through the task is due to the fact that these were objects they often see and touch. Hence even without sight, they will be able to identify by feeling the shape or texture of the object.

Third, they are guided vocally by a facilitator to walk to a finish line. Life goes on normally, even if someone lacks their sense of sight. This station is to make participants realise the difficulties faced by blind people when having to get from one place to another. It is not surprising that sometimes blind people are fooled by others whether by giving wrong directions or leading them to nowhere and just leaving them there. Not every blind person will have the privilege of having someone they fully trust guiding them around 24/7. This is another difficulty that leaves them vulnerable, especially outside of their homes.

Sight is a sense we rely on heavily to go through our daily routines and most of us that have it tend to forget that it can be considered a privilege that others may not have. The PsychWEEK activities will hopefully make participants more caring towards others with disabilities and appreciative of their undisrupted senses.

A blindfolded participant facing the difficult task of putting a puzzle together