Visit of Haw Par Music

On three separate dates of March 16, June 26 and July 13, over 70 members enjoyed the opportunity of visiting Haw Par Music, a music academy housed in a revitalized Grade 1 historical building previously known as Haw Par Mansion.

It is our belief that the loss of vision shall not stop anyone from pursuing social and cultural life that they used to appreciate.  The visit to Haw Par Music, initiated by Information Accessibility Centre, is exemplary of our efforts to enhance access and improve experience of the visually impaired in visits of the city’s cultural landmarks.  Our approach can be summarized in 3 key words: professional, holistic and user oriented.

Professional

From the very beginning, we engaged Ms Tseng Huei, a volunteer trained in audio description and an architect by profession, to kick start the project.  Ms Tseng helped to line up meetings with Mr Roger Wu, Executive Director of Haw Par Music, who in turn arranged the necessary site visits and briefings for us to work out a detailed itinerary for the visit. Through her business connection, our social enterprise, Barrier Free Access (HK) Ltd, was able to access architectural maps and drawings of Haw Par Mansion and produced a tactile guidebook for the visit. 

The Visit is indeed a professional collaboration among several organizations.

Ms Tseng Huei (left one), the volunteer and staff of Barrier Free Access (HK) Ltd discussing how to make a professional tactile guide book.

Holistic

We were able to combine the roles of docent and audio describer during the visit to Haw Par Music.  Serving as audio describer, Ms Tseng helped members form mental images of the layout, décor and exhibits of Haw Par Music through detailed narration of key visual elements.  We strived to enhance the visitor experience by providing not only audio description and directional information, but also a tactile guide book.  Images were carefully selected for inclusion in a 17-page tactile guide book arranged sequentially to match the tour route. While the images may be simplified to highlight key elements, significant details were singled out and enlarged for easy comprehension. In addition to braille labels and legends, ordinary text was included to describe the images so that volunteers can guide the visually impaired in using the guide book.  

Group photo of a visually impaired participant (middle) and two volunteers. The male volunteer shows the tactile guide book.

Two volunteers (right one and right two) assiting a visually imapired (left one) to read the guide book and describing the attraction 

A volunteer assisting a visually impaired to read the guide book

User oriented

We put people first.  We took many steps to ensure that our users will thoroughly enjoy the visit and benefit from the experience. A pilot visit was organized on March 16.  After the pilot visit, a focus group was held to gauge user feedback especially on the tour route and the design and utilization of the tactile guide book.

Apart from appreciating the subject matter, visit is also an opportunity for social interaction. The pairing of volunteers and members was well thought out so that volunteers will provide not only physical support but also invaluable companionship to members.

Looking ahead, while we may not have the resources to make the same elaborate preparation and sophisticated tactile guidebook for each of the visits organized for members, we will definitely work in the same spirits – be professional, be holistic and be user oriented.

Participants of the pilot visit are touching the tiger figure in the Haw Par Music

Two volunteers paid a site visit before the pilot visit, in order to familiarize the envirnoment for a better rundown.

A visually impaired (left) and a volunteer watching the mural 

Special thanks: Haw Par Music, Design 2 (HK) Ltd and Rotary Club of Hong Kong Elements