Blind student's words speak of grit and spirit

South China Morning Post

14th October 2013

Blind student's words speak of grit and spirit

It's a rare interview. Tsang Tsz-kwan normally shuns publicity.

The 20-year-old blind and hearing-impaired student sits in a room at her alma mater Ying Wa Girls' School. Here's the girl who made headlines in July with her excellent Diploma of Secondary Education examination results. She scored 5* and above in five subjects and a 4 in the sixth.

In July, the public learnt through media reports about how Tsang - who was educated at the Ebenezer School and Home for the Visually Impaired at the primary level - read Braille with her lips because her fingers lacked the sensitivity to read it with her hands.

Now, Tsang studies translation at the Chinese University, where she's gradually settling into and trying her best to adapt to her new school life.

These days, she continues to read Braille with her lips. But with the help of the Jockey Club Rehabilitation Centre, she now uses a modified keyboard that better suits her fingers. The keyboard allows her to input braille that her computer would translate directly into words.

Up until the end of secondary school, Tsang had a resource teacher from Ebenezer to help her with her studies. But now, she is learning to cope on her own in her four-year translation degree course, with the help of her university peers.

"The lifestyle and mode of learning in university is very different from before," she says.

Prior to the interview, Tsang had said she would speak in Cantonese; but in the end, she opted for English instead. Her economy of language and succinctness in vocabulary has a public-speaking aplomb to it.

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1330982/blind-students-words-speak-grit-and-spirit