Educating young blind children for a better future

Hammad was only 2 years old when he enrolled in the Early Intervention Programme (EIP). He was diagnosed with two different diagnoses for both his eyes. Hammad’s right eye is diagnosed as micro cornea whereas his left eye was diagnosed as Anophthalmos which is the absence of the eye itself, as a result of a congenital malformation. Hammad’s condition was never an issue for his family and his extended family, who loved and took care of him selflessly.

They live in a closed knit community where they take turns to care for Hammad when his parents go out to work at the rubber estate. In spite of being born with no vision, Hammad was able to move independently at the age of 2 and is also able to interact well with his family members. Howbeit he was still very dependent on his family especially his mother for his daily routine and was very afraid of strangers. His speech was also not coherent. This is all in the past.

Now Hammad is an active child who loves to play, and he can even boss his younger cousins around. He is able to move around the house and do his daily routine independently. His aunt mentioned that sometimes she just needs to supervise him for certain chores and that he is able to take a bath on his own. The parents are very happy Hammad can do these things independently as he is going to attend school soon. One of the significant improvements seen recently was when Hammad greeted and helped the teachers to take the boxes into his house. His attitude was totally contradictory when they first met, where he had hidden behind his mother the entire time.

Hammad shows the world that his blindness is not a hindrance to him. Just like the quote by John Milton “To be blind is not miserable; not to be able to bear blindness, that is miserable.”