ANAHEIM : ‘Seeing’ the Circus on a Touch Tour

Imagine sitting surrounded by the “oohs” and “aahs” of what they call the Greatest Show on Earth but being unable to see a sleek acrobat’s breathtaking plunge, an elephant’s enormous stance or a hilarious clown’s neon plaid and striped get-up.

Most visually impaired visitors to the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus can only imagine what it looks like from afar.

But on Thursday, some students from the Braille Institute Orange County Center in Anaheim were allowed to feel the colorful circus world they cannot see with a special behind-the-scenes touch-tour of the acts that appear under the Big Top.

Zany clowns invited the students to touch their wiry hair and rubber noses as well as their baggy pants and floppy shoes as they cracked jokes that made even the most bashful touch-takers giggle.

The group of about 20 kids, teens and adults got the same invitation from the elephants, llamas, goats and skunks, as ringleaders and trainers described how the animals performed and how they are taught tricks.

“It was wonderful--everything except the elephant. I didn’t like it ‘cause it blew in my face,” said Shayla Gustafson, 10, “and the goat, ‘cause it tried to eat my clothes.”

Only a few of the students, 5 to 21 years old, seemed standoffish about petting the animals. And even those who were shy at first eventually gave in to curiosity.

“I think most everyone, even if they didn’t want to at first, went up and touched them anyway,” said Elizabeth McGuire, a volunteer with the group.

The idea was to give visually impaired guests some insight into the show before it goes on, so that they could better understand what accompanies the music and words they hear once the acts begin, said Steve Schuyler, youth coordinator at the institute.

Once the show begins, volunteers with the class answer questions and point out different parts of the act that students cannot see. “It’s amazing how perceptive they are,” Schulyer said.

He said the students have varying degrees of blindness. “These kids are everywhere in between,” he said.

Like most students, Annie Arredondo, 7, said she liked the animals best, although touching the clowns’ stiff, false eyelashes was also interesting. She said she was surprised that the elephants’ skin was so “rough,” and that the skunk felt pretty much like a kitten.

“It was fun because we got to touch the animals,” she said. “Last time I went to the circus, we didn’t get to do that.”