Despite the fact that many visually impaired people have tried to study and train themselves to see, they face many problems due to discrimination from others as well as a lack of guides to help them overcome their defects.

Nguyen Manh Hung, a psychological consultant and someone who has recognized this fact, is making every effort to help those with poor vision.

Hung, a visually impaired psychological consultant at Nhat Hong home, one of the Blind Associations in Binh Thanh district, has revealed his upcoming project aiming to support impaired people. It is going to provide the unfortunate ones with a variety of entertainment such as playing chess, football, badminton, and musical instruments.

To be open-minded

Hung, who has been visually impaired since he was eleven, was the first such student to study at Van Hien University, and is one of the best students of the psychology faculty at Ho Chi Minh City Pedagogical University. He is also a chess player who attended the Para Games in 2008 as a Vietnamese representative.

“It was my first time competing in the Para Games and I totally lost the game”, he recalled, “After losing my two first games of chess, I was so disappointed that I nearly quit and left.

However, I had a chance to talk to Nguyen Phuoc Trung, the team leader, who tried to encourage and help me recover my spirit and responsibility as a Vietnamese representative in that contest. He helped me open my mind and overcome the inferiority complex about my defect”.

“People are only able to see the limited space by their eyes. However, through the mentality of thinking with a warm heart, they are able to see through the world”, Hung shared.

Meaningful job

For the past two years, Hung has been a psychological consultant for the visually impaired living both at the Nhat Hong home and around the country. Through phone calls, he has shared many stories with those suffering from impaired vision, and he has worked to help them overcome their fate.

Every day, his meaningful job usually lasts until midnight, or as long as there are visually impaired people who need him. He shared that, “many low-vision children do not have the chance to study because there are so few special schools for them in Vietnam. Without particular skills and educations, these children are unable to find suitable jobs to support themselves. Moreover, the small number of low-vision students graduating from universities are also facing problems due to discrimination from people with normal vision.”

He added, “If you give the visually impaired opportunities, they will do better than you think.” For years, many visually-impaired people around the country have consulted Hung about their problems, their limited abilities, and also their love.

Many of the visually impaired have married people with normal vision. Some are happy, while others have run into trouble. In one example, a sighted woman complained to Hung about her visually impaired husband. In another case, an impaired woman asked Hung for advice after receiving a marriage proposal.

Day by day, Hung has overcome his own defect and become a major moral supporter of the visually impaired in Vietnam. “They need practical help from those with healthy vision to integrate with the social community”, said Hung.

He is very busy these days with his upcoming plan to help visually impaired and blind people. A free entertainment center where visually impaired and people with regular vision can play and communicate will be opened soon in Ho Chi Minh city.