Taiwan's blind find their groove

"We'd like to see each blind person have a job so they can be financially independent," Chen said.

For some, the program seems to be working. At an outdoor activity celebrating Mother's Day at Warner Village square yesterday afternoon, college girls were cheering, screaming and singing along with Hsiao Huang-chi (蕭煌奇), the lead singer and saxophone player of the band All-in-One (全方位樂團).

Hsiao, who went completely blind during his senior high school years, formed the pop music band in 1995 with four of his best friends from the Municipal School for the Blind (啟明學校).

Now they perform at least six times a month and each band member is able to make roughly NT$30,000 per month -- just enough to survive.

"When we first started, we had only two or three engagements a month and could afford only two meals a day," said the 25-year-old. "But I don't complain because music is my life. Without it, I'm nothing."

In addition to music, Hsiao is also a black-belt judo practitioner. He won the bronze medal in judo competitions at the South Pacific Asia Paralympic Games in 1994.

He also ranked 7th in judo competitions at the 1996 Atlanta Paralympics.

Like Hsiao, 40-year-old David Chang (張育豪) has the same passion for music and has developed a successful career as well.

Chang, who founded the Woodpecker Chamber Ensemble (啄木鳥樂團) in 1984, said that although the band has about 20 engagements every month, his income fluctuates a lot from season to season.

During the first half of the year, when activities are scarce, Chang makes between NT$30,000 and NT$40,000 a month. He can make NT$10,000 or NT$20,000 more during the other half of the year when performance opportunities are plentiful.

Chang lost his eyesight completely at the age of 12 after having suffered from glaucoma since childhood.

To kill time, Chang said he developed an interest in music.

"I taught myself to play the guitar and started learning the piano in junior high at the Municipal School for the Blind. I tried composing during my college years and loved it from the very beginning," he said.

Before he founded the band, things had not gone that well, since he had to play the piano in one bar or hotel after another.

The hourly pay back then for musicians with ordinary eyesight was about NT$300 but his was just NT$180, he said.

When Vincent Ho (何文生), an amblyopia sufferer, heard one of his senior classmates playing the violin. He said he knew right then music was what he wanted for his life.

He learned to play the violin, piano and clarinet in senior high at the Municipal School for the Blind and majored in music in college.

To ease the family's financial burden, Ho started to teach others how to play the violin and earned about NT$2,000 a month some seven years ago.

Some 10 years ago, Ho along with four other blind music lovers founded the Five Eyes Band (五眼樂團) and now makes an average of NT$10,000 per month plus another NT$30,000 from tutoring.

For Ho, he said transportation is the most difficult challenge he has to face on a day-to-day basis.

"Because I don't look much different from ordinary people from the outside, sometimes I'm treated with disdain when asking for directions," he said.

"I just hope that people will be more patient dealing with the blind."