What If One Day..

..you lost your sight..?

Yesterday instead of hanging around the shopping centers to hunt for discounted stuff, we did something meaningful. Not to say hanging around shopping centers is not meaningful ok, especially there a sales going on..

We attended the Blind Leading The Blind Charity Walk organised by the Lions Club.


It's like this. One person will be blindfolded and will be led by another person, walking on real roads experiencing the challenges faced by the visually impaired persons. It's not a race, just a 3km walk around the PJ Civic Center area.

But still have to register and get a number though..

The walk should be starting at 730am. Malaysians being Malaysians, 730am means 8am.

There were about 1500+ people participating (according to reliable source). The crowds inclusive adults, veterans, kids, school children, women, men, healthy and visually impaired persons.

We started off with me being blindfolded. At first of course I am not comfortable walking blindly although with a guide. And she always gives wrong information, asking me to skip la, jump la, turn here and there la, even on a straight empty road. Instead of giving her a shadow back kick, we decided to swap.

Me, being a professional guide managed to lead her comfortably to quite a distance, maybe 1km. Then swap back again. While I was being blindfolded, the road seems to be more challenging. 'Take a step up the pavement. Ok, now a step down the pavement. Wait, another pavement, step up. Ok, now down again..'

I was thinking, wei.. kidding me or what, how come so many pavements one suddenly?

You see lah, people all walking on the main road while I were being led up and down the same pavements dunno how many times.

After shadow kicking her, we decided to try something more challenging. Both blindfolded. And this is really the blind leading the blind. Every step is dangerous.


After 2-3 minutes, we dropped the idea..

From there we swap and swap and swap few more times and finally we reached the finishing line.

What I have learnt from this blind walk.

1) The distance is much longer when you can't see.
2) Every step could be fatal. Imagine walking into a drain, or tripping on a pavement, or trying to cross a road.
3) When one sense is off, the other will be more sensitive. I can smell the filthy drain is nearby. Or food stalls. Or a car is coming.
4) Sight is very valuable. Take care of your eyes.
5) Our roads are not blind-friendly at all..
6) The most trusted person guiding you could be the one leading you into a drain.

So, the next time u see a visually impared person wanna cross the road or something, just lend a helping hand ya..

p/s: this will be better if organised in a park in the evening or at the beach, maybe Port Dickson.. so that participants can enjoy the greeneries or the sound of the waves while being blindfolded.. schweeettt...

How crappy..

Adios.