As an 8th grader at the Western Academy of Beijing (WAB), my class often “sizes up” the incoming underclassmen at the beginning of each year. This year, there was a 6th grader who stood out from the rest – Noa, whom I noticed navigating the halls of Middle School with a white cane, carrying a laptop that looked quite different from the standard-issue Macbook most WAB students carry.

Noa uses his fingertips to read Braille on his BrailleNote Plus

Noa uses a cane because he’s been visually impaired since birth, however, with tools and a support teacher to assist when needed, he’s just like any other middle schooler at WAB.

We’ve eaten lunch together a few times, and each time he always has something fun to say. A few weeks ago, Noa participated in a literature festival hosted by the US Embassy in Beijing, reading two children’s books in braille. Interested, I sat down with him to find out what it’s like to be visually impaired.

Children gather to listen to Noa reading a braille storybook at the recent American Literature Festival

Noa and his family arrived in China less than two years ago, when he was in 5th grade. He says he enjoys WAB so far and is beginning to learn some Chinese. The school’s mission resonates with him as well. “I like WAB because we’re actually encouraged to make a difference, and I like the way WAB teaches us to do that.”

Noa is from the US but considers himself a citizen of the world. “I’d say that I’m really from everywhere,” he explains. “My dad’s French and my mom was born in the US, but she’s half Thai, half Latvian.”

Noa has been visually impaired since birth. “I am fully blind, except that I can see light versus darkness,” he says. However, that hasn’t stopped him from becoming a voracious reader, which he has accomplished using the braille system, a reading system he started learning at age 3. “[Braille] is basically a 6-dot system where any combination could make a number or letter,” Noa explains. “Some people would even call it code.”

Noa shows a crowd how to use a braille typewriter

Nowadays he uses the braille computer that he carries to school, which looks like a laptop, but instead of a standard QWERTY keyboard, has a special row of touch keys capable of presenting an ever-refreshing line of braille. This allows him to read anything from websites to Harry Potter.

Just like other laptops, his gets upgraded as new features are released. “I’ve had successive generations of a braille computer known as the BrailleNote (the BrailleNote, then the BrailleNote Touch, and most recently the BrailleNote Touch Plus),” he explains. “I use my computer like any visual computer – and the most recent versions include a touchscreen allowing my teachers to see my work at the lift of a lid.”

Instead of a screen, Noa’s laptop has a row of keys that can display letters in braille

Books in braille are easy to find – both digital and hard copy – through resources such as bookshare.org, a website designed for people with visual impairment and other barriers to reading, and the National Library Service for The Blind and Physically Handicapped, a division of the US-based Library of Congress. He’s also an audiobook listener, and WAB’s online library has plenty to choose from. “Graphic novels are probably the one genre of books that doesn’t translate well. “My computer would only display them as one ‘image’ after another.”

As for his favorites? “I mostly like reading mystery books such as Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys.”

A huge group of kids gathers around Noa as he shows them how to type on a braille typewriter

In addition to understanding how he reads, I wondered how he plays sports, given that so many of them require vision.

He likes a sport called goalball – one of the official games of the summer Paralympics – which is suited to both blind and sighted players and involves getting the ball into the opponent’s goal while blindfolded.

Whether it’s sports, reading, or surfing the web, Noa’s life is more similar to his sighted classmates than you may think.

“It’s very inspiring to see Noa be optimistic, determined, and enjoy his school life despite the extra challenges he faces,” said one of Noa’s fellow WAB students, 8th grader Angelina.

KEEP READING: SENIA to the Rescue: Resources for Working With Differently Abled Children

Images: Uni You, Mike Wester

Over the festive season, we’ll be highlighting some of the organizations and people that give their time and skills to make our city a better place, and looking at what you can do to support them. Spread the spirit of giving these holidays!

China has transformed beyond imagining over a couple of generations, modernizing and developing at a rate previously unseen in history. But in a few areas, old-fashioned ideas persist, and rarely with such sad consequences as in attitudes to disabled children. However, there are many, locals and foreigners, working hard to change attitudes and transform lives. We spoke to Allie Haaz, English-language spokesperson for Bethel China, to find out more about one such organization.

Allie Haaz with one of the children helped by Bethel China

Tell us about the history of Bethel China. How did it start, how has it developed?

Bethel was started 16 years ago by a French couple who were volunteering at a state-run orphanage here in Beijing, teaching piano and music. They saw three children sitting there, who could barely sit up by themselves, who couldn’t talk or walk. They asked the orphanage “Can we teach these kids music and English?” But they said, “No, because those children are blind.”

There is an attitude in China that blind people or children can’t do anything, will never live an independent life, get married, or have children. The big problem is that there are no role models here in China. At the time, the Gauvains were looking for a way to get involved. When they heard this they knew that this was what they were meant to do. So they took those first three children and fostered them directly in their home. They were taking care of them themselves, then they started bringing in more kids, more teachers, more ayis… It grew beyond their small Beijing apartment, into Bethel China!

What are you doing now, and what are your plans for the future?

We are an organization with five centers across China. Four of them are for orphans. These are collaborations with state-run orphanages, which means these are programs run in orphanages where we provide them with educational activities, advocate for them to be adopted (usually by international families), take care of them, and make sure they have a better opportunity for a brighter life.

In Beijing, we have a family presentation center that provides screenings, a preschool for families to attend, and scholarships for the preschool. All this is to encourage families to stay together: we find that when families have resources, they don’t need to abandon their children. So it’s preventative care to make sure children don’t end up in orphanages.

Bethel China provides preschool education for blind children in Beijing

In the future, we hope to have more family training in Beijing. We plan on opening more centers and orphanages so that more children get proper care and we see fewer children that are delayed [developmentally].

How can people get involved? What help do you need, and how can they contact you?

The best way to get involved is to contact me: email allie@bethelchina.com, or WeChat a_haaz. We need volunteers who can come during the school week in Beijing Monday through Friday 8am to 5pm, to teach English and music. We can’t accommodate volunteers at the weekend, unfortunately. But we always have room for volunteers to help with fundraising, organizing events in Beijing to raise funds to provide care and pay the salaries of the teachers and ayis who look after these children so well.

The best way to really help children in need is considering adoption. It’s not for everyone, but it is a life-changing and magical thing. So if anyone is interested in adopting children from China, they can contact me.

What makes your organization different or special?

We really open our hearts to these children who don’t have families. We love these children, our ayis love these children, and the teachers love these children, as much as their own. They go above and beyond every single day to make sure that these children feel loved and are properly cared for.

You can donate directly to Bethel China using the Alipay QR code below:

Photos: courtesy of Allie Haaz

When we arrived at Doudian, we were warmly welcomed by Bethel Development Manager Chloe Banks. She gave us an introduction to the campus and of the history of the orphanage before leading us to see the children and the classrooms.

 

 

 Photos courtesy of Bethel