Deftly feeling their way along the bumps of the braille score, the young players of Thailand’s first blind orchestra memorize scales, defying both their impairment and negative attitudes toward disability.
It is a rehearsal just hours ahead of a concert at an open-air auditorium in a Thai national park, and about 30 fledgling musicians strum, pluck and bow their instruments.
“At first, it was really hard for me... I wanted to stop,” said Joe, a 14-year-old budding cellist who picked up the stringed instrument nine months ago. “[However,] when I realized that others could do it, I gave it another try.”
Photo: AFP
Official figures show that Thailand is home to 1.8 million disabled people, of whom about 180,000 are blind, in a population of more than 64 million.
Yet campaigners say that state provision for disabled people is lacking, compounding a widely held Buddhist belief in karma that links physical impairments with the “misdeeds” of a past life.
The Thai Blind Orchestra, made up of players aged from eight to 15 years old, offers a rare positive platform for disabled Thais.
Photo: AFP
The orchestra was brought together by a professional classical musician whose day job is looking after elephants in the Khao Yai national park in northeastern Nakhon Ratchasima Province.
The idea was born when the blind students met their soon-to-be maestro, Alongkot Chukaew, at his conservation classes in the park.
Teaching with the help of audible aids, including his guitar, Alongkot, 43, noticed that music caught the children’s attention. He asked his music teachers to play different instruments and encouraged the youngsters to follow the sound they liked best.
As their affinity with their chosen instruments mushroomed, Alongkot introduced a braille system for the students to learn to read classical music.
Shown individually how to place their fingers on their instruments, the children then memorize both the notes and the correct placement to make the right sounds.
“It was hard, because they cannot see the demonstration of where to put their fingers or hold the bows, but it was fun,” Alongkot told reporters.
“Some people might not like their performance, but the kids are happy and have fun with it,” he said, adding they are not looking to compete.
Attitudes toward disability across Southeast Asia are often shaped by a sense of karmic destiny.
The same philosophy that encourages people to do good deeds so they may be rewarded on reincarnation also leads people to believe that disabled people experience their challenges because of their actions in a past life.
It holds back progressive policies and leaves many disabled people in the region mired in poverty or hidden at home by ashamed families.
“Disabled people are the poorest of the poor,” said Suporntum Mongkolsawadi, a double-amputee who campaigns for better rights.
“The belief in karma makes disabled people think they should just surrender and accept their fate,” added the 48-year-old, who heads the Redemptorist Foundation for People with Disabilities.
Suporntum blames Thailand’s lag on years of political instability, and faults short-lived governments for hampering policy changes to transport, education and health.
While the law codifies equality, in practice life remains at best complex for many disabled Thais.
Most public transportation lacks wheelchair access, few state offices have ramps and there are no braille signs and few voice signals.
Jobs are also sparse, while social opprobrium runs high.
However, Suporntum sees some reasons for hope, saying that the ruling Thai junta is well-placed to drive through change — after it vowed to make society more inclusive and include rights for all in its reform agenda.
In January, a Bangkok court ordered elevator installations at 19 more stations of the capital’s elevated skytrain service within a year, up from four, in an issue Suporntum has campaigned on for eight years.
However, for real change to take place, Thailand must first shed its preconceptions on disability, said Rosalina Alexander McKay, an activist from the Rainbow Room Foundation in Bangkok.
“You do not have to change the belief system, but you have to change your ways of looking at things,” added Rosalina, who has a seven-year-old daughter with Down Syndrome.
As sighted volunteers prepare to lead the orchestra to their seats — and donated instruments — on the open-air stage, cellist Joe says he refuses to be held back by notions of karma.
“I cannot see, but I have good ears... That is my gift in music,” he said. “When we lose one thing, there will always be a substitute.”
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