Hong Kong Blind Union: 60 years helping visually impaired find support, fight for inclusion

“For piano, the keys were a blur, and I am very slow at sight-reading,” the 23-year-old noted. “Learning a new piece took me a long time, and even then, my performance was far from satisfactory.”

At 15, Tse made the difficult decision to step back from music and leave secondary school. In search of viable employment opportunities, he spent about two years dabbling in everything from piano tuning to floral arrangements and even magic.

“After leaving school, I tried different hobbies and vocational courses,” he said. “But I soon realised these paths were not for me.”

In 2018, Tse turned to the Hong Kong Blind Union (HKBU) for career support. Through this organisation, he rediscovered his love for music and decided to pursue his violin examinations once more. Over the next three years, he achieved Grade Eight, which is the highest level in the exam system, and set his sights on becoming a music teacher for visually-impaired children.

Last year, he received HK$38,000 from the union’s Lee Bing Vocal Music Development Fund, which assists visually-impaired youth in developing their music potential. Now, Tse works as a music teacher at the union.

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Established in 1964, the HKBU is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. As the city’s first organisation led by the visually impaired, the union originally focused on helping visually impaired students transition to mainstream secondary schools. Its services included English tutorials and training people to use visual aids.

In 2005, the union established the Jockey Club Vocational and Educational Resources Centre to assist visually impaired youth in accessing employment and educational opportunities.

One of these programmes is notable for diverging from traditional career paths for the blind, such as working in massage parlours. Instead, it provided training and internships for diverse roles such as online show hosts and post-production assistants.

Mandy Kwong Man-yi, a registered social worker at the union, stressed the union’s goal to unlock new career opportunities to support the city’s visually-impaired.

“We all hope to promote inclusive employment and help people with visual disabilities integrate into mainstream society,” she said.

“We actively reach out to different employers, such as information technology companies, hotels or banking to expand the career pool for them.”

Peter Yim Chun-on, 30, is a teaching assistant at a local secondary school and serves on the HKBU committee, offering job interview training for visually impaired youth. Before his current role, Yim worked numerous part-time jobs to stay afloat, from collecting trays at McDonald’s to data entry for a local NGO.

“After finishing Form Six and the DSE [Diploma of Secondary Education] exams, there was no support for students with special education needs,” Yim noted.

“We relied on the union for resources like amplifiers to help with text reading,” he added, referring to equipment that enlarges text to improve readability.

Yim noted that Hong Kong’s work environment needed to be more inclusive of people with visual impairments. His goal is to spread the message that the visually-impaired can be capable and dedicated employees – as long as companies are supportive of their needs.

Yim recalled his first full-time job in 2018 at an NGO, where he entered data from handwritten surveys. He struggled to read the responses, and the organisation did not want to compromise by switching to digital surveys. Eventually, they terminated his contract.

“People with visual impairment really need a job. But employers often overlook our capabilities, no matter how much you try to persuade them, they just choose not to believe in you,” he noted.

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Agreeing with Yim, 53-year-old Maggie Leung Wai-sze shared that a former employer once barred her from certain responsibilities to “avoid risks” – even though she was capable of doing these tasks.

“It wasn’t until some colleagues spoke up that the employer began allowing me to work on these duties,” said Leung, who is accompanied by a guide dog. “But the process was not pleasant as they [employers] might not be so kind to you. I would hide somewhere and cry.”

Leung has been involved in the union’s programmes since she was a student in Form Four and was recently a barista at the organisation’s now-closed Yau Cafe, which was the city’s first to hire only visually impaired people to offer coffee and massage therapy. Now, she is a product salesperson for an international electronics company.

Yim hoped to counter the common belief that the visually impaired could only work in customer service or massage parlours.

“In recent years, new jobs available to the blind are emerging,” he said, adding that he had worked for a local hotel before. “This is a refreshing career choice for us.”

He added: “For me, the job nature isn’t the most important; what matters is that employers are willing to communicate with us and would make an effort to assist, and try to understand what we can and cannot do. It is a win-win situation for all of us.”

Why this story matters: Hong Kong has about 190,000 visually impaired people. Organisations like the Hong Kong Blind Union have long been helping visually impaired students and adults find employment and pursue independence. Everyone can do their part to be inclusive and supportive of people with disabilities.