Venue: Dialogue Experience, D2 Place ONE; Star Ferry Central Pier

Scope: Creativity, Service

Learning Outcomes:
5: Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively
6: Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance
7: Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions

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In this experience, we experienced the lives of people with hearing and visual disabilities.  

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In the first part, we were required to wear headphones that eradicated most of the sound and disabled verbal communication among each other. It was quite hard as we had to express ourselves just by eye contact and body language (we couldn’t lipread as we were wearing face masks). The deaf tutors at Dialogue Experience taught us some sign language, which we used to solve puzzles, mystery games and do role play. It was surprising to see how impressive the deaf tutors could communicate through sign language.

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Subsequently, we were led into a completely dark complex. It was very terrifying as we were unable to see anything at all. We had nothing but a walking stick to detect obstacles, and a guide who directed us through the complex. It was quite a big step in overcoming my fear. As a group, we completed several tasks in the dark environment and truly understood the daily experiences of the visually impaired. We panicked as we reached out for our next step, yet our guide directed us with ease. Originally, I thought the guides had gamma ray glasses or night vision goggles. Astonishingly, in the sharing session, they told us that they were actually visually impaired. 

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We learnt a moral that replenished our hearts: “While we are visually competent in the light, we lose our visual ability in the dark. The visually impaired, on the contrary, are blind in the light, but are more capable than us in darkness. Therefore, they are not people with disabilities, but people of differences.” The clear and direct juxtaposition between the guides and us expresses the solid message: we are all equal and should be treated equally.

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After the two experiences in Dialogue Experience, we set off to experience these differences in reality. We wore ear plugs as we rode the subway from Lai Chi Kok to Tsim Sha Tsui, and were blindfolded as we boarded the Star Ferry from Tsim Sha Tsui to Central. It was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience that broadened our knowledge about people of differences and how their lives are significantly different from ours.   

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Through these activities, we experienced how it is like to be people of differences and learnt how to cope with these difficulties. It has made us more aware of this globally significant topic and has empowered us to be empathetic and supportive towards people of differences in the future.