Sharifah Talhah, 58, a homemaker, hugging the trunk of a Chilean wine palm at Gardens by the Bay’s Flower Dome during the new nature tour for the visually impaired. The Straits Times/ANN Photo

SINGAPORE –  Stretching his arms around a Chilean wine palm at the Gardens by the Bay’s Flower Dome, Mr Ali Daud could barely cover half of the tree’s massive trunk.

It was the first time Mr Ali had hugged a tree and the 60-year-old, who had been born blind, laughed.

“I didn’t know that palm trees can be so huge, and the trunks, so big. It’s something you can’t imagine unless you feel and touch it,” said Mr Ali, who is president of Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped (SAVH).

Chilean wine palms can grow up to 25m tall, with trunks of around 1m in diametre.

Mr Ali, who was visiting the Gardens by the Bay (GBTB) for the first time, was among a group from the SAVH that were taken on a new “sensory tour” on October 8 developed for the visually impaired, to which the media was invited.

The tour, offered by GBTB to SAVH beneficiaries, takes visitors through its Supertree Grove and Flower Dome. They are taken through the experience with a 2.5D tactile guidebook, which helps the visually impaired to feel the “shapes” of the various attractions.

A volunteer guide trained by GBTB also accompanies them and uses descriptive language to explain the attractions.

The SAVH participants are also allowed to feel and touch the plants and trees, which regular visitors are not allowed to do.

The goal is to help the visually impaired create a mental image of the Gardens and the plants it contains, said GBTB. 

Ali Daud (left), president of the Singapore Association Of The Visually Handicapped, and Lyn Loh, head of accessibility at SAVH, at Gardens by the Bay. The Straits Times/ANN Photo

As part of SAVH’s celebration of White Cane Day, which falls on October 15 every year, GBTB took some 120 visually impaired visitors on the tour on October 13.

Following that, a pilot run of the tours will be held on the last Saturday of each month beginning in November for SAVH beneficiaries.

Ali said he grew up afraid of touching plants, as he had read that some plants could be poisonous.

But the tour left him amazed with the plants in the Flower Dome, he said. 

The new tactile guidebook that utilises 2.5D printing to illustrate the Gardens by the Bay’s Supertrees. The Straits Times/ANN Photo

Gerald Teo, GBTB’s deputy director of programming, said the Gardens had worked with Beyond Vision International, a Hong Kong organisation specialising in providing resources for the visually impaired, and Singapore-based design consultancy Trigger Design Studio to develop the 2.5D guidebooks.

It uses “solidified ink” printed on paper to create raised objects that the visually impaired can feel.

“We want them to experience as much as possible what a sighted person can experience,” said Teo.

Another tour participant, Lyn Loh, 64, felt the tour was very informative.

“When we entered the entrance, I was very impressed that Genevieve (the lead guide) mentioned going through two doors. This minor detail is a big deal for someone like me,” said Loh, the SAVH’s head of accessibility. The Straits Times/ANN