Building an inclusive community, one story at a time
Recharge to Recalibrate & Ideate
After spending about 15 years in private legal practice, I decided in 2014 to take a sabbatical leave to recharge and recalibrate. I recall having a long, leisurely weekday lunch at the start of my sabbatical leave with my friend Hidayah. As we chatted about creative book projects, I shared aloud this thought that popped up in my mind: We should have children’s storybooks in accessible formats for blind children to read! Hidayah agreed, so we quickly did some research and decided to spend some money to engage the Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped (SAVH) to transcribe Hidayah’s award-winning book The Mango Tree into braille. We then donated them to Lighthouse School so their visually impaired students could enjoy them.
Book Cover Image: Si Ma Guang and the Giant Jar, IBBY Outstanding Book for Young People with Disabilities 2017
The Singaporean community, including organisations like SAVH and Lighthouse School, has been incredibly supportive of our initiatives. My first book, Sima Guang and the Giant Jar, was launched at Lighthouse School in 2016. The first edition of my latest book, My Name is Ling. I am Blind., was launched at SAVH in late 2023. SAVH kindly sponsored the production of the braille editions of that book, which were donated to beneficiaries like students of Lighthouse School. Over the years, we have engaged SAVH and paid for their braille transcription services to produce braille editions of our books. Additionally, we have invited Lighthouse School on several occasions to our Helang Books’ events, and they have supported us too when their students joined us in our programmes!
A Turning Point
Soon after we started that endeavour, life unexpectedly threw a wild curveball my way. A cancer diagnosis resulted in me having to spend the remainder of my sabbatical leave receiving medical treatment. The thought that I might die prematurely compelled me to change course and pursue my love for writing. Writing is a joyfully and emotionally cathartic process. I believe that to be able to write descriptively to render a voice to those whose voices may be less heard is a meaningful way to put my skills to good use. I also use my writing to advocate for a cause I believe in—nurturing empathy in our young. The health scare was a sombre wake-up call, triggering an acute sense of urgency. I decided to exert more control over what I could accomplish with my time moving forward, so I opted to cease legal practice.
From left to right: SIR Team Members, Ai Khim, Seow Ser, Hidayah with inclusive book Siti Wan Kembang and the Deer
To SIR (Socially Inclusive Reads) with Love
In 2015, I started a ground-up community initiative under the auspice of Helang Books with Hidayah and another friend Ai Khim. I coined it endearingly as To SIR (Socially Inclusive Reads) with Love. In using creative arts community programming as a platform to nurture empathy and promote social inclusion, we created innovative inclusive books like Sima Guang and the Giant Jar with noteworthy features of braille, tactile pictures and dyslexia-friendly font. This book earned recognition as an IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People) Outstanding Book for Young People with Disabilities 2017.
My Name is Ling. I am Blind. 我的名字叫玲。我是个盲人。
My advocacy skills equipped me to be an effective champion to raise awareness for social causes. On this amazing journey, I had the chance to befriend and interact with more people with diverse needs. A visually impaired teacher I got to know introduced Ling to me, and we became friends.
In 2020, I thought of weaving Ling’s life into a children’s story with rhyming English verses to engage the young. I recall the evening when I called her excitedly and read the story to her over the telephone. It felt surreal, as Ling listened intently. Although she found it “quite weird” to be listening to her life story, she revealed, “Yet, I cannot help but feel you wrote so beautifully.” She liked that I had used simple words to depict the essence of her life story so well. It was gratifying to know that I had authentically captured her personality, character traits, achievements, hobbies and the experiences that had shaped her to be who she is today. The story, illustrated by Sarah Abdul Wahid and published by Helang Books as Book 6 in the “I am Unique” bilingual picture book series about children with special needs, is also translated and transcribed respectively to Chinese and braille.
To write about Ling, I had to dig deep into nuggets of my conversations with her over the years, consciously imagining myself being in her shoes. I hoped to amplify her voice, share perspectives of her world and interactions with others. Ling’s endeavour to learn cycling awed me! With the support of assistive technology, she always responds to my texts and emails promptly (more so, ironically, compared to my experiences with some sighted persons).
The story celebrates Ling’s spirit of resilience, perseverance, humility and big-heartedness in helping others, paying it forward as a contributing Singaporean. I hope it will inspire, help and encourage others.
Ling’s Perspective
Ling is a very humble person. She once told me that having a book written about her is not so much about herself or relating her story per se, but more like she liked the idea of promoting different strengths and abilities through such books. In my view, she always thinks of bringing benefit to others, not to herself. She always maintained that it would be better if I “wrote about someone else.”
In going through the manuscript, Ling requested to have the honour of listening to me read the story in Mandarin for her. She reckoned my voice would sound more authentic than the mechanical tone of her voiceover function on the phone. And so I happily obliged and recorded my reading of the text in Chinese. When I sent her the audio file, she listened to it and said that my voice sounded “much sweeter” (than the mechanical voiceover)!
From left to right: Author Lee Seow Ser, Illustrator Sarah Abdul Wahid, Publisher of Helang Books, Hidayah Amin
Raising Awareness about Needs and Aspirations of Persons with Diverse Needs
I also had the privilege of being accompanied by another blind ambassador friend to conduct storytelling at a children’s welfare home. Not only were the children amazed to see her read braille fluently with her fingertips, but they were curious and asked questions like, “If you can’t see, how do you know when someone enters the room or steals your wallet?” This opened doors to more conversations and broadened young minds.
A boy later approached her and gently said, “I am so sorry you are blind. May God bless you.” These words have been deeply etched in my mind. For a child from a troubled family facing his own set of challenges, his capacity to empathise with others encountering challenges different from his own is truly remarkable. It is humanity at its humble best.
Impact on Visually Impaired Children
In 2021, I read in the papers about a blind Singaporean baby. I reached out to the family through a common friend to gift them an inclusive book with braille, tactile pictures, and dyslexia-friendly font. I posted the book to the family. The mother replied to me, saying, “Thank you so much for the book…it’s really not easy to find books catered to VI (visually impaired) children. It’s so well done, with outlines for the pictures too.” I am heartened that the book will be a valuable Singapore-produced resource for the baby who was born blind.
People typically fear what they do not know or are unfamiliar with. The “easier” way out hence is to avoid the issue altogether. In my work and personal engagements, I am conscious, intentional, and open-minded in the way I interact with others. I aim to be a role model to show how we can better relate to those whose needs are different from us. I try to practise empathy in my own interactions with people around me. I aim to show to those who may be shy or fearful of the unfamiliar that it is not that difficult to be kind, empathetic, and inclusive.
Exciting Plans in the Pipeline
At the launch of Ling’s book, Ling introduced me to a new friend. That first encounter evoked deep empathy within me. Little would I know that interactions with my new friend over meals and conversations would go on to inspire me to write a new story about her.
I wish to celebrate the indomitable spirit of this lady who enlivens people around her with her witty sense of humour, despite her dual disabilities, trials, and tribulations of life. I hope to bring this book to fruition by collaborating with sponsor-partners who are keen to support my book production efforts, as part of their corporate social responsibility or philanthropy initiatives.
Like Ling’s book, I hope to use this upcoming book for public education outreach in schools and the community, to help raise awareness about the needs and aspirations of under-represented groups. I hope these stories and experiences can touch chords, open and shape minds in young children, nurturing them to be kind and caring towards persons with different needs. I believe they will go a long way and create social impact in building a caring, kinder, and better world.
