Vicky Wireko: The inspiring story of a visually impaired university student
The saying that disability is not inability has been amplified by a young visually impaired lady I met recently.
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Grace Anaabi, a 25-year-old level 200 student of the University of Cape Coast (UCC) went blind at the age of 12, but that neither crushed her nor changed her perspective of life.
I heard about Grace’s story a few weeks back and inspired as I was, I decided to search for her and get her to share her inspirational experience. Struck by two tragic events right from early childhood, Grace refused, even at that age, to be beaten down. She lost both parents very early and was taken into an orphanage where she grew up and consequently adopted the foster mother’s name.
Another tragedy struck her at the age of 10 when she started developing problems with her eyes. Despite a course of medical treatments, Grace completely lost her sight at the age of 12. She stopped schooling and stayed home for four years until someone from Sight Savers International discovered her and introduced her to the braille.
At age 16, she got the assistance to enrol at the Akropong School for the Blind. Grace took to selling charcoal, gari and toffees during holidays to raise some money to cater for her petty needs. After her Junior High School education at Akropong, another benefactor discovered her and agreed to sponsor her to continue with her education.
Grace’s grades in the Basic Education Certificate Education (BECE) were so good that she gained admission to the Okuapeman Senior High School in the Eastern Region. At Okuapeman, Grace did not allow her disability to draw her back. Conscientious with her studies, she gained entry into the UCC.
Luck once again struck her when Airtel Ghana discovered her and offered to sponsor her through her undergraduate education. Now at level 200 at UCC, she is pursuing a degree in Bachelor of Education in Arts. Grace is not perturbed by her disability. Her aim is to become a top journalist in future. She plans, however, to go into teaching for a while once she graduates and then go in to do a Master’s degree in Journalism.
At the university, Grace does not wait for any preferential treatment. Indeed, she refuses any such treatments so that she can prove a point to the world and become an encouragement to others in similar situations. She attends lectures using the same lecture halls as all others. She tends to record lectures and then have them transcribed using a laptop that has special software for the visually impaired.
At the Valco Hall where she is a resident, she told me she does her own cooking. Most of the time, she goes to the market herself and gets help with the selection of items by the sellers who are now familiar with her preferred items.
A committed Christian, Grace tries not to miss her Sunday morning worship at the Baptist Church on the university campus. In her leisure times, she prefers to listen to gospel music but one particular singer whose songs attract her most is Esther Smith.
It is often said that having a positive perspective of life and staying positive is the best attitude to life’s fulfilment and happiness. Grace Anaabi definitely has it. She is passionate to see disabilities that hinder people transformed into envious abilities and achievements. She admonished those with disabilities who beg for money and other favours to search for something better to do with their lives, saying, ‘Countless opportunities exist for everyone.’
Her advice to parents with disabled children is that they should never deny such children the right to education. She added that in a competitive world, the key to enhancing one’s chances in life is education, and that the blind stand better chances to make it through schooling, adding, ‘Once you can connect with the braille, you can see as any normal person would.’
Stories such as that of Grace Anaabi come to inspire the world. They come to reinforce the fact that discrimination against the disabled is unjustified, given the fact that they too can make it given the opportunity. But above all, Grace’s story underscores the fact that the disabled themselves should frown on self pity and instead, yield to ‘can-do’ attitudes.
Grace Anaabi might not have been born great but she is certainly on the way to greatness. She needs to be commended and encouraged. It takes courage and self will, given her setbacks.
