Student with vision defect writes exams with flashlight

You were diagnosed with glaucoma when you were in school and later you lost your vision after graduation, how have you been able to cope with the disease? It happened towards the end of my programme, last semester, precisely. I stated developing eye and vision problem and I had to use flashlight to write my […]

You were diagnosed with glaucoma when you were in school and later you lost your vision after graduation, how have you been able to cope with the disease?
It happened towards the end of my programme, last semester, precisely. I stated developing eye and vision problem and I had to use flashlight to write my final year exams when the intraocular pressure started affecting my optic nerve and made writing difficult for me. I was later diagnosed with glaucoma at the National Eye Centre, Kaduna. The disease is a major cause of blindness.  
I started visiting the Centre since 2009 because that was when I discovered I was having vision problems. Initially, I was told that the eyes cannot be operated on for reasons I do not know, it was when I was not responding to the drugs, in 2013, when I was about going for my national youth service, that I became blind. A doctor at the National Hospital wanted to conduct an operation on the eye, and I told him that one doctor had said an operation cannot be conducted in 2009. My family advised me to reject the operation because at that time I had already gone blind.

The vision problem developed while you were in school, did you encounter academic difficulties?
I was supposed to graduate in 2012 but because I had to retake some exams, I went for my NYSC in year 2013 and finished in year 2014.
I was posted to Plateau State but later redeployed back to Kaduna due to my condition. 

Do you intend to pursue further studies?
I have applied to various media organisations seeking for job but I didn’t hear anything positive and my effort to look for somebody to sponsor my Masters programme didn’t yield any result. I want to further my education so as to be useful to society and help others in my condition. I have gone to many places seeking for assistance including non-governmental organizations. I am blind and need to read and write in Braille but they are very expensive. If I can get a laptop installed with special facilities, it will go a long way in easing my sufferings. I do not want to be a burden to my parents and the society.

Do you have the intention to venture into business?
I want to set up an online business centre because where I stay in Rigasa, there is high demand for internet services due to the large population and the absence of an internet café. Life has been very difficult. I am staying with a friend of mine who is a teacher in one of the public schools, my parents are not well-to-do, and my situation only made life difficult for them because they spent huge amount of money trying to reverse my eye defects without success.