The most touching visit ever: Visually impaired visitors “explore” Shilin Official Residence with their hands

Reporter Zhu t?幔?ū北ǖ技/p>

For people without disabilities, visiting historical sites or museums is an everyday activity, but for friends with visual impairments, exploring any kind of architecture or artifact is an extremely luxurious wish—especially for those who are congenitally blind, as they often lack the ability to imagine and can hardly grasp such experiences even through guided tours. The main building of Shilin Official Residence has specially planned a sensory experience activity to encourage visually impaired individuals to go outdoors and appreciate the beauty of Taiwanese culture.

The main building of Shilin Official Residence has collaborated with the Zhongzheng Cultural and Educational Foundation to integrate the exhibits, architecture, courtyards, and the surrounding outdoor herb garden of the main building to organize the “Love Without Barriers – Love Blind Sensory Experience Activity.” The first batch of ten visually impaired visitors, arranged through the Taiwan Digital Talking Book Association and accompanied one-on-one by volunteers, participated in a nearly two-hour sensory experience activity. Although they couldn’t see, through touch and smell, the shapes and scents of Shilin Official Residence gradually came alive in their minds.

▲ Through audio guides and tactile exploration with their hands, visually impaired friends happily visited Shilin Official Residence. (Photo / Provided by Taipei City Government Department of Cultural Affairs, same for the following images)

During the indoor guided tour, visually impaired visitors used tactile floor plans along with volunteer-provided headphone-guided explanations to understand the spatial layout and corresponding locations within the residence. The venue also prepared several artifacts such as roof tiles, decorative boxes carved by Madame Chiang Kai-shek, and fireplace tongs for everyone to touch. These completely new experiences clearly brought joy and wonder to the faces of every visually impaired visitor.

As for the outdoor guided tour, the venue specially designed a tactile area on the olive-green exterior wall of the official residence, complemented by explanations about the architectural features of the main building. During the subsequent nature walk, accompanied by guides, participants took turns touching old tree trunks and entered the herb garden. With explanations from the volunteer guides, they experienced the characteristics and daily-life uses of plants such as rosemary, basil, mugwort, mint, and jasmine through touch and smell.

%季退憧床坏剑?span style="font-size: 12px;">Use touch, use smell,and you can also feel the ecological beauty of Shilin Official Residence with your heart.

Xiao Xuyin, Deputy CEO of the Zhongzheng Cultural and Educational Foundation, said that after participating in an accessibility museum professional workshop recommended by the Cultural Affairs Bureau last year, they gained a more concrete concept of how to serve people with disabilities. Coincidentally, a volunteer with a visually impaired sister had long served as a volunteer for the Love Blind organization. After discussions with the volunteer, they decided to add a more challenging guided service for visually impaired friends on top of the existing services for other disabilities.

Xiao Xuyin also mentioned that for visually impaired friends, visiting historical sites or museums is actually very difficult, as they can’t see clearly and have to rely on their hands and imagination, using their hearts to perceive the surroundings. The venue put a lot of thought into enabling them to also “visit” and get to know the official residence. Seeing the bright smiles on the faces of the first group of visually impaired visitors as they touched and smelled things was truly moving and made all the effort worthwhile.

The “Love Blind Sensory Experience Promotion Activity” invites visually impaired friends into the official residence. Not only is there no registration fee or entrance fee, but there is also dedicated guided service, assistive teaching tools, tactile activities, and other multi-sensory learning experiences. Starting now, sessions of approximately 120 minutes will be held regularly. Any visually impaired individual holding a disability card can sign up regardless of the number of participants. A session will be arranged once 8 to 15 people have registered, and there’s no need to worry about being disturbed by general visitors.