In 2010 Shyin Cai set out on a mission to provide experiential learning programs run by people with visual disabilities. Her deep desire to help those who were sight-impaired came from some time spent volunteering at a blind school in Tibet. Shyin soon learnt that the biggest challenge for the children was ‘not blindness itself’, but the ‘discrimination they received from the society’. It was with this knowledge that she launched Dialogue in the Dark – a social enterprise in her native Shanghai, China. Through her work as Global CEO of the company, Shyin began to understand the many needs of blind people – realizing that for visually impaired communities across China, access to sports and exercise was vital to a healthy lifestyle. Five years later, the idea behind Running In The Dark began to take shape. This is Shyin’s story…

I started running at 38 to look after my physical and mental health. I used to think it was a boring thing to run for such a long time. Now, running has become my meditation. I’ve met so many great friends through running. I even met my husband while running. I never thought I would run marathons, but our group has since taken part in many international events.

When some of my visually impaired co-workers at Dialogue In The Dark asked to join me on my regular run – I agreed. I saw the feeling of freedom it gave them. It is an excellent way to improve health, both psychologically and physically.  Running is perhaps the most accessible sport from a financial perspective, but visually impaired people require assistance and must overcome this barrier to participate. After I took my co-workers to a 5km fun run in Chengdu, I wanted to set up a public program to support the visually impaired community and enable them to participate in running regularly. As a result, we founded Running In The Dark in March 2016. 

There are 70 million visually impaired people living in China. In Shanghai, there are an estimated 200,000 people. Around 60 join us regularly. Most visually impaired people in China don’t go out much. Through our research, we discovered that many have never traveled, left their own city, or taken a plane or train. We currently reach a small proportion of people. We want to reach more.

Our main goal is to get more people to step out of their houses. We want to help make our society more integrated; to reduce stereotypes and prejudice. It’s only when you’re being seen that others will see you differently. We know that Running In The Dark is changing views on the visually impaired population. We are proof that they are capable of leading a full and active life.

The program is completely free and operates on a volunteer basis. The first time volunteers come to a run, they receive training on how to be a guide runner for the visually impaired. This includes being blindfolded and letting other people lead them on a run. This helps develop empathy and shows people how to be more considerate of each other.

We depend on our volunteers. In turn, they get so much out of working with our runners. It’s a mutual exchange rather than a one-way relationship. There is a bigger sense of accomplishment when you assist someone else to complete a run or a race. We now have a very stable group of long-term volunteers, including families.

Running In The Dark now operates in 15 cities across China. My husband, Yi Cheng, manages the program. People come to us to say they want to start a running program in their city, and we sponsor them to get the gear and start things off. Our most active cities are Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, Nanjing and Hangzhou. Most organize runs once a week, others – like Beijing – run twice a week. In Shanghai, around 200 people join us for the weekly run – including around 35 people with a visual impairment, and 25 who are deaf or hard of hearing. The rest are volunteers. Runners range from three-year-olds to those in their mid-70s.

Running In The Dark completely changes lives. A lot of our members are older and became blind in their 50s or 60s. It is difficult for them. Many have never played sports until they joined us. We witness their health, body and mentality change. They develop self-confidence. We have several 70-year-olds completing half-marathons and a 65-year-old who completed a full marathon. A runner we took to Boston in 2017 was the first fully blind person to complete the marathon.

When we attend marathons with our runners, we try to find local guides to assist. It’s physically taxing to guide a blind runner, and for each runner we need to have three to four guides, including back-ups. Our runners have run in Boston, Chicago and Berlin.

On has helped support us so that we can attend running events as well as donating running shoes for our members. People often come to us with no gear. When people run long distances, they need proper running shoes, or it will lead to injury. We really appreciate our relationship with On.

A society’s success is measured by the [quality of] life of its disadvantaged people. It’s not about the [quality of] life of the privileged people. In China, many people don’t get the opportunity to enjoy sports. For me, running is a wonderful way to change people’s lives. That is why I am so passionate about what we do at Running In The Dark.

Through Right To Run partnership support, Running In The Dark receives funds and products that support people with visual impairment to run regularly throughout China. To learn more about how you can get involved, visit http://www.dialogueinthedark.com.cn/