spreading sunshine.

Greetings

I am Shazia Hasan. I am a computer teacher for the blind, provide

counselling to the visually impaired and their parents. have written

several articles

in Dawn, News, Spider etc. I am a member of lions club international.

my blog address is

shaziahasan.blogspot.com

with large local and international traffic.

today I am going to share the story of my journey so far and share

with you my vision to support the visually impaired persons lead

independent

life with dignity.

I was born with chronic glaucoma. I lost the sight of the left eye

when I was two days old. I kept on having operations and treatment

here in Pakistan

and abroad to save the sight of my right eye. Time passed, nature

prevailed over the Doctors and around eight years of age I had lost my

sight. A trauma

at its height for me and my family.

With diminishing sight, it was becoming dark all around me. For eight

years I could see the faces of my parents, sister, brother, cousins

and friends.

Enjoy my

own colourful cloths, flowery shoes and ribbons in my hair. I enjoyed

the colors of rainbow, beautiful flowers. vast blue ocean, glittering

sky, flying

butterflies in my garden. All the colours and light were gone. As a

young girl of eight the thought that I will no more be able to see

these things again

was very depressing.

Kindness of Allah and support of family and friends that I could have

the courage to overcome this trauma. I had lost the physical ability

of seeing

but my vision was very much intact.

My best pastime became reading books in Braille mostly from Libraries

in Holland. They proved to be my best mentor. I realised that the

greatest things

that happened to this world was the result of the visionaries whether

it was poetry, literature, scientific inventions, architecture or any

other field.

Seeing has limitations vision has no limitations. A miracle had

happened for which I was praying. A new Shazia Hasan was in the

making. A more confident

courageous.self reliant having perseverance and passion to go ahead to

make her dreams a reality.

The pace of advancement of Medical science and technology is mind

boggling.every day new products and services are coming at the market

place. I used to

get many electronic aids and toys, which more than playing was a

source of wonderment. Reading about computer it its ability would

greatly fascinate me.

My father who is a computer professional would narrate me the powers

of computer which interested me more than Ali Baba stories.

I was highly motivated and inspired girl. I knew the first priority

for me is the education . I focused my attention to education.I

completed my education

from the ida Rieu. While i was having education I was enjoying life as

any body else. My abilities and senses increased in geometrical

proportion.I could

listen very well and visualize very easily what is happening. I would

enjoy walking barefoot on cool grass, sitting in my garden and feeling

the smell

flowers and flutter of birds.

When an RNIB trained Doctor who had become visually impaired started

computer classes in Karachi I was the first one to enroll as a

students. This was

a turning point in my life. My parents presented me a computer with

special software (called JAWS, which is abbreviation of, Job Access

with Speech)

which is a sophisticated screen reading software. This facility opened

flood gate of knowledge for me I could work on ms word, ms

office,spreadsheet,

Power Points. use internet, participate in social networks, use mails,

chats, facebook etc. All this was so involving and interesting that it

left me

no time to worry about my limitation.

Once visiting the Royal National Institute for the Blind, London I saw

boys and girls busy in their daily chore of life including washing

their clothes,

mending if necessary, cooking etc. They lived an independent life,

largely unaided, I used to wonder why in Pakistan we cannot live like

them......with

least dependence. There were lot of social and family hurdles in our

way. I pledged to myself to bring freedom to some of

them...........and let that

be the beginning of dawn before sunshine.

All my life I had the dream to help the people like me.To give hands

and feet to my dream and making it reality. I took the first step and

became a teacher

of computer in Ida Rieu.The step proved to be very exhilarating and satisfying.

For parents of such child, it was a trauma too and they did not know

how to cope with a disabled child.

At Ida Rieu, where I worked as Teacher I started counselling parents

of such students. With guidance these families became happier units

and children demonstrated

positive attitude.

So far over 200 boys and girls have learned computer from me.This has

revolutionized the life of these students. They are now an active

member of their

family. Many students are now doing their own business. Some major

employers of computer trained students are Standard Chartered Bank,

United Bank and

Karachi Electric Supply Company. I am sure these employers will

encourage other companies to absorb such students.

The smile and happiness on student faces which I can visualize and

feel was very rewarding. The gratitude they show makes me happy.This

motivate and inspires

me to do more about blind people in Pakistan.

My work was slowly getting noticed by the civil society and media.

Several TV channels aired special programs about my work which

increased awareness.

I am also thankful to following organisations whose recognition

strengthened me in my mission:

1.K.F.C. for Best Teacher Awards 2007

2.Rotary Club Karachi for Best Teacher Award 2008

3 Ida Rieu for best teacher award 2009

4 Aga Khan University for Business English Certificate 2010

My real award is my ability to bring change in the life of students

and bring back smiles on their faces.

I will repeat my appreciation and thanks to media for disseminating

knowledge about the new opportunities through giving coverage to my

interviews and

appearances in specially tailored programs. The task is gigantic and

needs collective efforts of the society.We have to work on the parents

of such children.We

have to change the basic paradigm that if you don't have seeing

ability life is doomed.The only knowledge they have is to get them

learn music,weaving

or things of the sort.This attitude is not true for illiterate or semi

literate population but even educated families. Entire civil society,

particularly

parents and elders of families with special child needs to be imparted

the education how to ensure and better and independent living for

their children.This

needs collective efforts of the society.The pioneers should come

forward with proposals to create awareness to parents how go about

training such children.In

my opinion parents attitude is key to success in educating the blinds

and making them equally useful member of the society.

Lastly i will touch upon the blindness of old age, accident, diabetes,

retina detachment etc. which often strikes at an advanced age and a

time when the

person is an active earning member of the family. I have handled

several such cases and they have been rehabilitated to continue with

their legal or medical

profession. There is a need to educate these people also. The leaders

of civil society should come forward and work to help the victims of

this group also..I

am of the opinion this is as important as opening eye hospitals. There

should be rehabilitation center to guide the parents and blind person

in a very

friendly environment. Major eye hospitals should have rehab centres to

guide such cases and provide alternate ways to pursue their

profession.

I am thankful to all institutions who recognized my work.This

recognition gives more vigor to do more.I am an optimist and I know

new technologies and

advancement of medical science will bring new opportunities for blind

people to live as normal life as far possible.This means I have to

keep my eyes and

ears open to learn more and pass on to others.I am thankful to

empowering the differetly abled persons Forum to gave me an

opportunity to share with all

of learned audience. Please help

propogate this message reach the needy.

shazia hasan

e-mail: shaziarizvi@gmail.com