Everyone remembers their first time.
Unfortunately for Paralympic swimmer Sophie Soon, her first Candlelight concert was marred by issues faced before the event even started.
Soon brought her guide dog, Orinda, with her but security personnel stopped them from entering the premises.
The 25-year-old is visually impaired and Orinda helps her to manoeuver obstacles when she’s out and about.
Security staff at the Candlelight concert did not quite understand the concept of a guide dog and mistook her golden retriever lab mix for a pet.
Last Saturday (Jan 21), Soon took to TikTok to share the experience in a 72-second long clip.
@sophsoon Join us as we go on our first Candlelight Concert!! 🕯️🎶 (And experience some friction we do get on a frequent basis…) #sgtiktok #vlog #guidedog #accessibility
The security personnel sounded confused, asking her if she was watching a show — to which Soon responded with a resounding “yes”.
“Unfortunately, this happens more often than it should,” the in-video caption read.
Soon explained to him that she is visually impaired and Orinda is her guide dog, not her pet.
This was met with a stunned silence.
The security personnel still couldn’t wrap his head around how a person with Soon’s condition could attend a concert.
Then, it happened.
“How you see? You cannot see, right?” he asked.
Soon felt this question was rather “irrelevant”. She did not include her response to said question in the Tiktok video.
AsiaOne has reached out to Soon for more information.
Eventually, she did make it into the event space and she enjoyed her first taste of a Candlelight concert.
In the comments section, netizens were unhappy at just how “insensitive” the security staff was to Soon.
A couple of TikTok users felt Soon had every right to lodge a complaint given that it’s “none of his [security staff] business” how someone enjoys the show.
Local influencer Nicole Choo provided her own thoughts, claiming that the security staff “needs to be fired”.
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It was just last November that Sophie and Orinda faced similar issues in public.
A fellow passenger sharing the same cabin as the duo complained about Orinda being on the train.
The commuter was worried Orinda might “suddenly attack” her and her baby.
Soon addressed the matter by sharing more about the rules and regulations about guide dogs.
She mentioned the only two spaces that guide dogs are not allowed in are restaurant kitchens and surgery rooms.
amierul@asiaone.com
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