A blind singer’s incredible journey to the stage: ‘I don’t want pity, just the same opportunities’

Wan Wai Yee is a singer for hire. Some days, you may find her belting out Celine Dion or Taylor Swift hits at dinner and dances, weddings and birthday parties. To make ends meet, she also busks on the streets.

This may seem like a typical scenario for many aspiring musicians in our city, some of whom have given up stable jobs and regular pay cheques to perform at gigs with dreams of eventually making it big.

But Wan’s case is distinctively different. She was born blind. 

Delivered several months before her due date and weighing around 1kg at birth, she had retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), an eye disease affecting some premature babies. This caused abnormal blood vessels to grow in the retina, and in Wan’s case, led to total blindness.

Because she could not see, Wan found many doors closed to her as a performer.

“Even without listening to you or knowing what you do, people already think, you are blind, what can you do?” she said.