NO EXCUSES

A common misconception about the blind is that they don't see anything at all. But vision impairment exists on a spectrum, so even when Cassandra Chiu was diagnosed with Stargardt disease at the age of eight, she could read with a magnifying glass. Now that her condition has deteriorated, she can, at best, tell whether a room is lit.

- Adora Wong

Even so, Chiu doesn’t take a dichotomous view of her vision loss. “The challenges and the tools I use to navigate them are just different. What remains constant is the need for creativity and problem-solving, whether independently, with support from others, or with my guide dog.”

Chiu became the first woman in Singapore to be a guide dog handler in 2011 after receiving her first guide dog. She received her third and current guide dog nine months ago, but withholds its name publicly as a precaution. “This prevents people from calling out to it while it is working, which can distract it. It’s something I experienced with my previous dogs,” she says.