Netizens praise blind girl's mom as her 'invisible guardian'
A screenshot of the video taken by Cheng Ying shows her daughter Xiao Ying crossing the road alone.
Videos secretly shot by a mother of her visually impaired daughter shopping alone have gone viral on Douyin, China's TikTok, and received millions of "likes."
The girl, 10-year-old Xiao Ying, lives in southwest China's Chongqing and has congenital binocular blindness.
After learning the condition was incurable, her mother, Cheng Ying, started training her to use a "blind crutch," or walking cane, to improve her life skills, The Paper reported today.
In the spring of 2020, Xiao Ying ventured out alone for the first time. She shopped at a steamed bun outlet hundreds of meters away from her home, a journey that required her to cross a road.
Knowing her mother would follow, Xiao Ying set out on her journey and brought back the buns independently, although taking a longer time than when directly guided by her mother.
Cheng Ying (right) with her daughter Xiao Ying.
Xiao Ying became bolder and more confident after that first success, often buying buns or fruits "by herself."
But no matter how far or where she went, Cheng would secretly follow her daughter, claiming that Xiao Ying "never found out for over a year."
Netizens have praised Cheng as her daughter's invisible guardian.
"Listen carefully to the sounds around. If other people are walking and you're not hearing the traffic, it is a green light," Xiao Ying recalls. "And this is what I learned from my mom," the report said.
Cheng said that when she saw Xiao Ying walking slowly or encountering difficulties, she always had an impulse to help her.
"Realizing that she has to be independent for the future, I resisted the impulse, and now I am gratified by her growth," Cheng said, according to the report.
