‘How I braved life’s odds to become lawyer after losing my sight’

Hers is a lesson in determination and endurance. Barrister Blessing Ujunwa set out with an ambition to become a scientist but fate threw her a curve ball while she was yet in secondary school: she lost her sight. But not one to throw her arms in the air in surrender after all the efforts she made to regain her sight had failed. She decided to pursue a career in Law and is today an accomplished lawyer. The native of Anara in Isiala Mbano Local Government Area, Imo State tells motivating story in this interview with SUNNY NWANKWO.

How did your journey to study Law begin as someone with impaired vision?

I was a student of the School for the Blind in Afara, Umuahia North Local Government Area of Abia State. My studentship in the school only lasted one session between 2008 and 2009.  The programme does not have any mandatory duration; it depends on one’s ability to learn all that he or she is supposed to learn. There are others who graduate after two or three years, but in my own case, I finished all that I should learn and graduated within the space of one year. So, it depends on the person’s capacity.

What were the programmes that you did there?

It was a rehab programme where I was taught how to type, mobility and using the grail. It is a programme for those that lost their sight along the way. They also run other programmes for those who haven’t been to primary school. After learning how to read grail, typewriter and mobility, they can now enroll in the primary session. But for us that were through with our primary and secondary schools, we were just there to acquire the skills of typewriting, grail reading and general knowledge as it relates rehabilitation and other things that come with it.

That means you attended primary and secondary schools elsewhere?

Yes, I did my primary and secondary schools before I lost my sight.

Can you recall how you lost your sight?

It didn’t just happen in a flash. It was a process. It started with glaucoma. We went for treatment but the situation kept deteriorating. After some years, it became very bad that it could no longer be managed.

Does it mean that your parents didn’t have the money to give you adequate treatment?

No, it wasn’t the money. We were treating it for years. A lot of money was involved. I was using glasses and was taking medications as well. We went to the ECWA hospital in Kano. We went to Akwa Ibom and so many other places in search of a solution before what happened, happened. So, it wasn’t because of lack of care.

Could it be that you didn’t meet the right people who would have taken good care of the situation?

It is not about meeting the right people. They were very good doctors. I was once sent to an Indian doctor in Kano.

Where were you when the incident happened?

We started the treatment in Port Harcourt because that was and is still where my parents live. Any other place that we visited was based on referrals, and on each visit, they would prescribe drugs which I took. And when the medication was not working, we would go back to them and they would refer us to another place.

Like I said, it didn’t just happen overnight; it was going down gradually.

At what age did you start to notice that you were having issues with your sight?

That was around 2005. At that time, I noticed that I was unable to walk on my own very well. Images started becoming faint. I could barely recognise colours. It finally went off in early 2006. I stopped seeing light in January 2006.

How did you feel when you eventually lost your sight?

One of the dicey things about all these is that at first, I was still seeing. I just felt that everything was going to be alright. I was hopeful of going back to school. But when I later realised that I was no longer seeing, I felt bad. My mum didn’t give up. But after about three years of seeking for solutions without any positive response, my dad decided that I should go back to school. It was at that point that the decision to go to the School for the Blind, Afara was reached.

I was a science student in school. But because of the peculiarity of the course that I want to study, I was advised to go for an arts course which would be suitable for me. After one year at the School of the Blind Afara, I had to go back to secondary school, though I was advised to just sit for JAMB and attend extramural classes for one year but I said no. I said that since I wasn’t an art student ab initio, I felt that there was so much that I needed to learn. I had to go back to SS1, and this time as an arts student.

I sat the WAEC and NECO exams, and as God would have it, I passed. I also wrote JAMB and I passed as well. I later gained admission into Nnamdi Azikiwe University (NAU), Awka to study Law. I wanted to do Mass Communication earlier, but I guess God had other plans for me. The first JAMB exam I did was for Mass Communication, but I didn’t pass NECO, which was my first attempt in SS2. In SS3, I took WAEC and by then, I thought about it (studying Mass Communication). With prayers and talking to friends and family members, we opted for Law, and by God’s grace, I passed and here I am.

What was life like at the School for the Blind, Afara?

They gave us accommodation. It wasn’t a very terrible place. It was a place that helped to mould me to become who I am today. It helped me emotionally. I met people who shared their experience. I equally met older persons who had passed the path I was and as well met people who despite their challenges have made it in life.

The facility there like every other place needs to be improved on. I haven’t been there for some years now, so I wouldn’t know if some have actually been improved on, so that I don’t give the wrong impression about the place. But as at the time I was there, the dining wasn’t so good; it needed to be improved on. The windows and the doors too were in bad conditions. The kitchen at that time wasn’t that good. They might have improved on them now. The place (kitchen) was strategically placed to enable the students’ mobility skills. It is also possible that the hostel facility has been improved.

What was it like adjusting your life from the former to the present person that you are today?

It was a process. It was just like moving on and not like an acceptance of the whole thing. I just wanted to move on. I don’t like being stagnant or being stuck somewhere. I told myself that rather than just sit down and feel distressed, I needed to be doing something with myself. One thing about me, even as a child, is that I always want to be useful to myself. I don’t like to be somewhere I don’t have anything to contribute.

That I don’t have my sight again does not mean that I should just lie down at a place. I made up my mind that I was going to go to the school (of the Blind) to see if I could understand what really happened and how those that had been through such a situation managed to move on with their life. I believe that I will still make use of my sight. But before then, I really need to get busy with myself. I needed to have a better me; I needed to have a better life even without any sight. That was what kept me going.

My mum initially didn’t want me to go to the kitchen. She didn’t want me to go close to the fire. She was scared that I would be wounding myself if I did. But because I want to continue to push against all odds, I had to learn how to do things without any or less assistance. That actually helped my adjustment.

Were there things that losing your sight denied you?

Losing my sight comes with its challenges and its peculiarity. There are things that you would ordinarily want to do, but because of the situation you find yourself, you have to let go. There are things that ordinarily you would not want to do, but you have to do them just to move on with the situation.

In the aspect of meeting with people, there are some people that are around you as friends and acquaintances. There are things that they will do which ordinarily you will not tolerate, but to an extent, you could let it go in order not to appear to be unnecessarily aggressive or intolerant.

There are people that would want you to feel that they are helping you too much and for that reason, you should take whatever they throw at you. But then, it depends on the kind of person that you are. You either stand your ground or you swallow it.

Mobility is the major challenge, no doubt. There are some events that you would want to go to, but you just cannot go there because of the (visual) constraint.

There are numerous things, but the major thing is for one to move on. You don’t need to start thinking or imagining how your life

would have been, what kind of relationship you would have been in if you had your sight. Like I said, you need to understand that you have to move on.

What was life like at Nnamdi Azikiwe University (NAU), Awka?

NAU was where I wanted to study and I was happy when I finally got admitted. It was very good, but very challenging. The exposure and challenges there helped in building me into whom I am today. When the admission lists came out about three weeks to the end of that semester, it was hectic for me. I was lucky to have met a Good Samaritan that helped me in recording notes and books. The pressure was there during the first semester of the first year, but then it became better in the second semester because I was able to get a laptop which enhanced my reading. But power supply was another challenge, because without power supply, I cannot scan books, I can’t charge my laptop.

Transportation to school was another challenge. We were however, given reprieve as the Students Union Government exempted people with challenges from paying for fares inside the school campus. That helped to reduce the cost of transportation for us.

My classmates were there for me, really and that made things easier for me. The only thing is that what I was supposed to do ordinarily in 10 minutes would take longer. Another thing is that if someone who isn’t fluent in reading records for you, it will take you extra work to go through the recording over time for you to be able to grasp what the person recorded. That means that you have to spend some good time that you were supposed to have used for another thing trying to understand what the person recorded. But when I started using my laptop, it helped me so much. I was able to scan my textbooks. The use of a laptop made the scanning and reading of my textbooks less tedious.

For exams, I used a typewriter for years because of interrupted power supply. But in my fourth year, when I spoke to the dean of my faculty about using my laptop to write exams and begged that they (faculty) should help me print it out, after typing, even if there was no power from the public power supply, they would switch on their generator to help me print them out.

For timing, they do give us (physically challenged) extra time because typing and writing are not the same. That depends on the volume of work. Sometimes, they give us 30 minutes to 1hour extra time. So, they (lecturers) were helpful.

What magic did you do to perform even better than some people with their sights intact?

(Laughs) The magic is God’s grace. There are times I look back and all I see is the grace of God. I won’t say that there is a special thing that I did to earn it, except the grace of God.

Why did you choose the Abuja Campus for Law School?

I chose Abuja Campus because I considered it more favourable in terms of accommodation and access to water. The crowd, hustling and bustling in other campuses like Lagos is something else. There was adequate power supply. The accommodation there was convenient. You know that I read more with my laptop. You can imagine if I was in a place where there was no power supply. That affected me terribly in my university days where there could be no light for a whole day. Studying in that situation when the exam is getting close can be a very big challenge. So, I chose the Abuja campus for convenience.

How emotional were you on the day that you were called to the Bar?

(Laughs) I was grateful to God. I was happy. I just felt wow!!! At first, I was so afraid of taking that path (studying Law), but I summoned courage and on the day I was called to the Bar, it was just a day I had waited for long to come, although I wasn’t pleased when I saw my result. I felt that I should have done better. Maybe there was something that I couldn’t do or maybe I didn’t study hard enough. I know that I got what I gave, but I was like, I didn’t do enough to get to where I was aiming at. But then, my family and my friends were happy that I made it and was called to the Bar.

What is your future plan?

(Laughs) Don’t worry. You will know as we roll. I don’t really have a rigid plan at the moment. Before now, I had planned and planned even before I lost my sight. So, I am just taking my steps to God.

What area of law would you want to pay attention to?

For now, I want to go into the corporate world. One thing about being a lawyer is that the profession is a versatile one. I have ambitions and plans and with time, I hope to begin to unveil them by the special grace of God.

Apart from legal practice, I hope to set up a foundation that will be into so many things, but with special interest in not only empowering people with visual impairment, but helping them make career choice, acquisition of skills, rehabilitation, among other things. It is going to a broad NGO.

Any plans for marriage now that you are done with your studies?

(Laughs) I don’t want to talk about it now. In due time, we shall discuss about it. It might be next week, next month or next year.

What do you think that the government should do to better the lives of the visually impaired or the physically challenged in the country?

They should improve on the level of enlightenment. The government, parastatals, organisations should really be enlightened about people with visual impairment. You know that when you understand better, it helps or gives you a better knowledge on how to do something. With proper enlightenment, they will know how to construct buildings. They will know how to construct roads as done in other climes.

Both banks, shops, shopping malls should be made accessible to all including people with disability. Federal and State governments should also make laws that will better the lots of the impaired and other people with disabilities. They should also create employment and provide facilities that will aid their mobility.

What advice do you have for people who are using their disability for alms and parents who are confused on how to manage their child/ward with any form of challenge?

For parents who are finding it hard to manage their ward with any form of challenge, they should look for any special school around them and enroll such a child. They should also provide help to their children when necessary. It is really baffling when you find some family being inconsiderate to their own who is physically challenged. Some families expect such a child to go out and start begging for alms and bring it back to them so that they can use the proceeds to feed him or her. Such a thing is wrong because sending the child out to go and beg for alms means that you are not thinking about the future of that child.

Training a person with visual impairment doesn’t come cheap. The things that others can choose to do, trekking, the person with any form of impairment may find it hard to trek. They shouldn’t treat them as if they are outcasts but should know that they are members of their families and should be loved like other members.

Agreed, there are people that come from a poor background; people whose parents do not have the money to train them which made them resort to begging, but it is not enough for them to take to street begging.

I want to use this opportunity to reiterate the calls for the government to pay more attention to people with impairment. Any assistance from both public and private individuals will go a long way to give relief not only to persons with impairments and their families but the general public.

Source