There were several students who graduated from the National Taichung school for the Visually Impaired. While they left a protective environment and had to face new challenges from society, what could they do? Could they swim with the tide, follow the steps of their visually impaired forerunners or live the same way as normal people do in their career life? In the documentary, “Vision of Darkness” by Zero Chou, most of the visually impaired elementary students didn’t want to work as masseuses in their future. It’s obvious that in their hearts they wanted to resist their fate. And even most visually impaired grown - ups don’t want to be masseuses either, if they had other choices.
This documentary is about several visually impaired people. I began recording their lives nine years ago, while they were still students and were members of the Beep Baseball team. Through the years I observed their lives and how they resisted surrendering themselves to fate. I’ve learned how they tried to learn everything that normal people do, achieve their goals, face the challenges and keep dreaming or planning their futures.
In this documentary I try to offer people new impressions on the visually impaired ones’ dreams and abilities. I hope that the visually impaired would no longer be ignored and be the people who live on the edge. They have the right to achieve their goals under any circumstances!
PaLi is now preparing to win his third championship in the Paralympic Games 2008. He has had good teachers and trainers in his life. However, he suffered a lot of visual problems and sacrificed a lot for the training. And yet he worked hard, and he is still working hard to achieve his goal.
YouLao loves to learn everything. He has learned how to use the computer and has enjoyed lots of activities. He has great devotion for the game of Beep Baseball. He is so active and energetic, but still he has his own problems with romance.
BaiShun is the youngest one in this documentary, he just graduated from college this summer. His major was music and yet, he is not called a genius. But he is definitely a very hard working person.
In the documentary, I try to present the real life of the visually impaired people. The visually impaired need respect as much as normal people do. They don’t want others to know that they are not able to see things. That’s why in this documentary I do not focus on their visual problems. I hope that people who watch this documentary would stop guessing how the visually impaired people feel, but rather learn how they really feel. In other words, I hope they would be able to be in the visually impaired people’s shoes.