Good morning.
More opportunities have opened up to visually impaired (VI) people in recent years, but I suspect some of us still cannot see them getting by in mainstream schools or jobs.
Two reality-style series are set to lift those blinders – and show how with some consideration from allies, the VI can chase their full potential.
Mainly, though, you should watch In Plain Sight and Our Blind Kitchen because they’re stories not about disability per se – but about characters who are poignantly, authentically, inspiringly human.
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Over the course of a school year, In Plain Sight does the unprecedented of tracking four mainstream primary school students in Singapore. What is it like to be the VI kid in your class of sighted peers?
How tough is it grappling with schoolwork and exams? Executive producer Tan Chih Chong recalls the moment that one boy, Sean’en, collected his PSLE results. He’d been struggling, and the crew had become deeply invested in his story.
Worry gave way to relief and more. “We’d never felt such joy on other productions; like proud parents ourselves,” Chih Chong said.
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He added that at first, “we couldn’t understand” the parents’ reluctance to share more on their kids’ conditions. It turned out they didn’t want their kids learning that they could face total blindness one day.
“Eliot’s mother said she didn’t want him to grow up afraid of what the future would be. It was an epiphany for us – it is with inclusiveness that these children can reach their full potential.”
Catch episodes 2 and 3 tonight and tomorrow at 9pm.
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Meanwhile CNA Insider senior producer Jinee Chen spent three months tracking an idealistic venture – to open possibly the first cafe in downtown Singapore run by VI chefs.
Alex was a veteran chef who recently lost his sight and didn’t think he’d work in a kitchen again. Erna, a homecook, also didn’t believe anyone would hire a partially blind chef.
But it turned out their disability wasn’t the biggest challenge at all. This 3-part digital series captures the team “just being themselves”, as Jinee puts it – clashing personalities, jokes about blindness and all. You also do not want to miss out on episode 3’s endearing addition to the team, whose personality is bigger than her disability.
Yvonne Lim
Deputy Chief Editor (CNA Insider)
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