Empowering the sightless
Perception, a popular spa employing blind massage therapists, offers stable income and personal fulfilment to its staff and premium-quality service to a growing list of clients, write Post reporters
Walking up a dim and narrow staircase would give anyone feelings of trepidation. The walls are painted black, darkening the walkway, forcing customers to tread carefully with each step and read the short messages written on each stair.
The stairway is set up to remind guests how lucky they are to still see the walkway clearly despite low light. On the second floor sits a minimalist Thai massage and aromatic treatment spa serviced by blind therapists.
“We want to empower underprivileged people by offering Thai massage worldwide,” says Suwatt Pathompakawan, the 37-year-old co-founder of Perception: Blind Massage on Sathon Soi 8.
After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in manufacturing engineering, Mr Suwatt went to England for further studies and spent some time abroad gaining work experience.
Eleven years ago, he returned to Thailand and started his own furniture-making business. He did this for about two years before office syndrome caused him to seek relief at Thai massage shops.
He happened upon a small establishment in Bangkok that is operated by the blind.
“I found that massages from the blind were more deliberate compared with those who have vision,” he says. “Because they can’t see anything, they try to touch your body carefully.”
Mr Suwatt also discovered at the blind massage shop that most clients try to give the therapists higher tips because of sympathy.
“That encouraged me to start a new business where blind massages are provided with better ambience than seen elsewhere,” he says. “This means clients are paying for premium-quality massages, enforcing respect between the therapist and the clients, not because of sympathy.”
In 2014, Mr Suwatt began operating a small cafe and bar called Dexter on the first floor of the four-storey building at Sathon Soi 8 and was thinking of making use of the three vacant floors of the building. A few months into running the cafe, he set up a blind massage shop in the space.
He says the shop is designed to accommodate the lifestyle of the blind therapists. It is decorated with dim lights and aromatics, providing a heightened experience to clients who can afford the
prices for the impressive premium service — not because of pity.
“I worked with my friend and my elder sister to seek blind therapists from foundations that offer massage training courses for the blind, and we finally got four therapists to start our shop with,” Mr Suwatt says.
Running the shop was difficult at the beginning, he says, as dealing with the disabled needed more deliberation.
“We have to treat them in the way that meets their needs,” he says. “If we didn’t, they would feel like second-class people, treated improperly. If we provided more care for them than they need, they would feel disabled, always needing extra care or being someone’s burden.”
Operating a business that prioritises social benefits over profit means the massage shop took longer than expected to break even.
“The balance sheet remained in the red for the first year of operations,” Mr Suwatt says. “But that’s fine, as I still have other businesses.”
However, things completely changed one day when a Korean blogger visited the shop by chance. He wrote a review on his blog, propelling the shop to the top three most-recommended Thai massage shops on TripAdvisor.
From word-of-mouth on social networks, hundreds of visitors now come to the shop monthly, mostly foreign tourists, Mr Suwatt says.
There are 12 therapists at the shop, encouraging Mr Suwatt and his partners to expand the business to Chiang Mai, another famed tourist destination.
Both the Bangkok and Chiang Mai branches are performing well, with more clients coming in and some foreign clients approaching Mr Suwatt with offers to open branches abroad.
“We are thoroughly considering whether the business model abroad could satisfy our concept and our intention, which is to help the blind through Thai massage,” he says. “Moreover, we still have many things to do here in Thailand such as taking care of our therapists, guaranteeing their earnings and welfare to keep them happy while working with us.”
When considering the welfare and happiness of therapists, Kan Kingthong is one of the venture’s successes.
Mr Kan is 55 years old and used to work as a construction worker in his hometown in Saraburi. He lost his vision completely when he was 40 from retinal detachment. With his new blindness, his family feared that Kan would commit suicide.
“They provided the best care they could give me, but it made me more hopeless,” Mr Kan says. “I despaired that I was a burden to my wife. I couldn’t work and I couldn’t support my family. I felt that I didn’t deserve to be a father.”
He decided to learn Thai massage from the Thailand branch of the Caulfield for the Blind Foundation in Bangkok, then joined Perception before it opened.
Lamyong Changlek has also found a home at Perception. She was a traditional Thai clothing trader in the northern city of Nan. She completely lost her vision when she was 36 years old because of absolute glaucoma and spent nearly one year struggling with the physical and mental challenges of living the rest of her life in darkness.
As she was unmarried, her parents objected to her plan to be a massage therapist because they thought it inappropriate for a young lady to touch others, particularly men, as intimately as a massage requires.
But Ms Lamyong was adamant about her decision, and she went to another foundation in Nan that offers a massage training course, aiming to learn traditional massage and have her own career.
At the foundation, she learned how to approach others appropriately based on the mutual respect that therapists and their clients should have in the privacy of massage beds.
She finally joined Perception and says she has found real happiness for herself.
“It is a self-sufficient happiness, which might not be the same for those who have more money and clear vision,” she says. “I find happiness in my independence.”
Asked about what she sees in her future, Ms Lamyong smiles: “The future is the only thing the both of us can’t see.”
I found that massages from the blind were more deliberate compared with those who have vision.
SUWATT PATHOMPAKAWAN Perception founder