Sai & Luther: What’s it Like Being Blind in Bangkok? [Season 4, Episode 9]

In our ongoing series about living in Bangkok with a disability, Greg interviews Sai Techawongtham, a Thai citizen who is blind, and who has something very rare in Thailand - a guide dog (his name is Luther and he’s a very good boy). Sai has recently received a lot of social media attention due to the fact that many Thai people are unaware of the purpose of guide dogs and often fail to accommodate their use. Sai discusses the difficulty of being blind in Thailand, and compares Bangkok to the U.S., where she goes to university.

As Sai notes, exposure and awareness are slowly changing minds in Thailand, but many businesses in Bangkok still will not allow dogs to enter, even though guide dogs are allowed by law. But all the laws in the world won’t do much good if no one knows about them.

Sai says that while it might be normal to blame the government for lack of accessibility for the disabled, there’s still a lot that private citizens can do to make their places of businesses easier to negotiate for the blind or people in wheelchairs. 

And don’t forget to check out Sai’s Facebook page, which has frequent posts in Thai and English about life as a blind person in Bangkok.   

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