Disability is not inability

13 November 2022
Londiwe Dube

The Bulawayo Public Library (BPL) hosted the World Braille Day at the venue yesterday morning.

The celebrations were proclaimed by the United Nations to honour the life and works of the late Louise Braille, the first blind student who was eager to communicate in the most efficient way possible in a journey of raised letters to six dots.

Braille is system of alphabets invented by Louise Braille in which the letters and some combination of letters are represented by raised dots arranged in three rows of two dots each and are easily read by the totally blind and partially blind read using the finger tips.

Prominent figures who gave speeches during the ceremony emphasised on the visually impaired people taking part in income generating projects and individual entrepreneurship so as to help themselves make a living without necessarily having to rely on other people for financial assistance.

A member of World Blind Union and Gateway to Elation Organization, Nqobani Dube, highlighted that their main aim is to empower all individuals who are visually impaired and also to get Zimbawean Government be fully involved in assisting such people.

“We call upon the government to speedily domesticate and implement the Marrakesh treaty of 1994 which removes the copyright barriers for textbooks and for other materials to be transcripted into Braille.” said Dube.

The Marrakesh Treaty is an agreement that was adopted in Marrakesh, Morocco, on 27 June 2013.

It facilitates access to Published Works for Persons who are blind, Visually Impaired or otherwise Print Disabled.

Marrakesh Treaty provides for the exchange of accessible-format books across international borders by organizations that serve people who are blind and visually impaired as well as those who are print disabled.

“As the government implements the national disability policy and inclusive education policy, we also hope that the use of Braille will be promoted and that the government will continue to raise awareness on the importance of visually impaired people in Zimbabwe”.

The Founder and Director of Gateway to Elation Robert Malunda, educated that his organisation aims at creating a holistic community that helps each other with partially sighted people in hands with visually impaired individuals.

According to Malunda, the Gateway to Elation organization also offers programs that equip blind people and partially sighted people with relevant skills so as to gain financial independence and be educated to fit in the modern communities.

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“We want to encourage the parents and guardians of the blind people to take their children to school so that they can be part and parcel of the whole community.” Suggested Malunda.

“As Gateway to Elation, we offer computer literate programes to make sure blind people can access information using computers and at the end of the day they are able to be part and parcel of the communities” continued Malunda.

Blind people use phones phones with embroided keypads so that they feel letters when using digital devices.

Braille Library Co-ordinator, Killion Dube said the main reason for the Braille celebrations are to raise awareness on the visually impaired to let them know that there is a solution for their disability through Braille.

“We want to encourage parents that there is a solution to being blind through Braille, we also want to encourage the culture of reading as it is an alternative for the blind to access information.” Encouraged Dube.

Dube also made a call to the government to ensure that Braille equipment and materials are made available for the blind through customs duty exemption on Braille.

A representative from the Ministry of Women Affairs Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development, Dominica Muringi, highlighted on the government’s efforts in reviving Braille as a way of empowering the visually impaired as they have produced nurses and lawyers from Braille.

“As visually impaired, I hope you will sit down with your leadership and write down the types of projects which you want to do so that you get funding from the government.” said Muringi.

Retired specialist teacher Ruth Mhlanga shared her experiences in working with the blind and said that these people only need to be treated as equally with an able _bodied in communities and warned against sympathizing with them as if they were sick.

She encouraged blind people to be confident in themselves, to develop certain attitudes on how to deal with other people around them without being aggressive.

Apparently, there are some individuals who are engaging in various businesses regardless of their visual impairments.

Ratidzo Muchairi, a blind young lady explained that she is making a living through selling potatoes in the streets and that she is a cross border trader.

She also said that she is the founder and presenter of ‘Proudly Able’, a reality TV show that showcases programs for people living with disabilities, the show airs on the local Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation’s ZTV every Monday at 1800hrs.

“We want to try and change the mindset of the society by showcasing the abilities that the disabled people possess” said Muchairi

Another blind man named Butho Ngwenya has said he is into vending and he deals mainly with cross border trading where he buys his commodities from South Africa and Zambia.

Butho complained about the Covid-19 pandemic that has affected business to a snail pace thus because of that he has been focusing much on hairdressing where he manages to earn few cents for a living.

“I’m totally blind, but that doesn’t stop me from achieving my dreams. I’m a hairdresser and under normal circumstances I do cross border trading and I’ve been doing this for years now. I get my customers online mainly but I sometimes have to meet them in person just to keep my relationships with them strong” Ngwenya said.

The retired specialist teacher, Mrs Mhlanga has encouraged visually impaired people to engage themselves in activities that can help them earn a living without necessarily having to look up to other people for everything.

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