Blind super student ready to tackle challenges of university life

A blind student and a reformed drug addict took their first steps into college life yesterday at Chinese University, backed by their excellent showing in the Diploma of Secondary Education exams.

The pair will take bachelor degree courses in translation and education, respectively.

Tsang Tsz-kwan, 20, "lip-read" her way to academic success. By reading Braille with her lips - made necessary by a lack of sensitivity in her fingers - she won a place in the university's translation department.

The enrolment offer marked a new start in her life, Tsang said, and she hoped to live an ordinary campus life like her peers. "I know I will confront many challenges as university is quite different from secondary school," she said. "I will do my best to adapt to the new environment."

The graduate of Ying Wah Girls' School was born almost blind and can no longer see. She has also been hearing impaired since Primary One. But the disabilities did not stop her from scoring 5** - the highest grade in the DSE - in three subjects.

The university would help Tsang fit in, including providing transport and equipment such as a Braille typewriter, dean of students Dennis Ng Kee-pui said. Student volunteers would also assist her.

Olivia Cheung Wing, a second-year Japanese studies student, served as Tsang's eyes on her first day at university.