Hello! I am a high school student from the Philippines. Me and a group of friends decided to perform an outreach.
As part of a project, my group and I performed an outreach at a center called Resources for the Blind.
We hope to raise awareness about the blind and we conducted a series of interviews.

I placed the stories of each person below, in hopes of sharing their stories to you. It details their struggles and experiences. We hope you guys can share this with your other family members and spread this throughout your communities.
Hopefully, with your action, more people will made aware of the perspective of the blind.
We wish to incite change in the world!
Take care everyone and I wish you the best.
Names are altered to protect their identities.

The title of this project is Living Blind


Jennifer and Pia Chua

We initially got to know Resources for the Blind Inc. (RBI) from a doctor in the Philippine General Hospital who referred us there.

The doctor told us she had category four visual impairment so as soon as she reached her first birthday, we brought her to the RBI. Six years later, I saw her grow from an infant to a toddler and eventually attend preschool. I remember that first time she was walking through the gates of the nursery, waiting to hear our goodbye so she could wave in the proper direction.

It was hard to accept at first, but God knows, so we attended as many seminars as we can about Braille and being parents to visually impaired children; the what-to-do and whatnot. But we grew up with it, we did. We kept looking for the best schools for her, first through fourth grade even if she was technically still in elementary school at 10 years old. So we kept hustling back and from the urban outskirts, every effort for her.
We first discovered that something was wrong with her eyes when we noticed that she wasn't looking at us. Her eyes were open, but she was not looking around. We only confirmed her blindness after bringing her to the doctor, and this was sometime after her birth. At first, we thought it was glaucoma. Others warned us of a tumor. That’s when we brought her to the doctor and we walked out a long time later, learning that she had category 4 blindness. When I gave birth to her, she was premature, so they didn’t check her eyes that time. But if they did, she could have been operated on earlier with laser surgery and this whole thing could have been prevented, but life happens after all. This was a big part in accepting the fact, but there were worse cases that could have happened, so I stay grateful with faith and with the blind community God led me to through her, I do my part to help in any way I can.
We had to stop school for a year because of the tuition fee. Lord, it was a difficult time. Some of our relatives helped her finish preschool even if they never thought that it would be possible because she was also learning Braille that time and she had a hard time. Basic math was hard too. Adjusting to Pia's own sleep schedule was quite difficult as well. She would sleep during the day and wake up at night. I later learned that those with blindness are nocturnal, another challenge thing that I did not expect to face.

I hope I can afford a special teacher to suit her needs: training in Braille, reading and writing, learning the grammatical contractions needed to read Braille. I have tried learning it myself but it is too difficult. All the good teachers go abroad, so I can only hope that more teachers here become SPED teachers.
I attended a business course to earn money. After she graduated from the RBI, I realized that they weren’t going to support me and my child as much anymore. So my daughter had to be on her own when I went back to a regular public school. She was bullied for being the only blind and SPED student there. She also had another classmate who had low vision. However, having low vision meant that he could still see and be included in class activities. Pia could not be included as she couldn't see at all. RBI's services were free at first, but once they added a tuition fee to allow her to be supported there, we didn't have the means to let her study there anymore.
They wanted her to study in PNSB (Philippine National School for The Blind) where all the SPED students go for high school and college, but it’s too far. So I tell my daughter to study hard in order to have a great future. And I make sure she does. During first grade, I hired a SPED teacher to have a 1-on-1 daily for two hours. In search of a better future, she had to go to the States, leaving Pia with no teacher.
One tool that blind people use in order to learn Math is the abacus. We have tried getting a regular, non-SPED teacher to help her learn but, the teacher wants her to stop using the abacus even if it is the best way to learn as she doesn't know how to use it herself.
I don’t know how confused she must be feeling at this age. In class, all her classmates do group activities but she ends up being left out, and the only time I can really have time to teach her is during the school breaks.

It costs P50,000 for a brailler, a machine for the Braille, and P100,000 for another machine that can speak braille, allowing those with visual impairments to communicate. They can speed up her learning process with the help of a laptop software, but it costs a lot. There’s a reason why we have been chosen as parents, although sometimes, I also question myself if I’ve done something wrong for all this to happen. It may be punishment for the wrongs we have done, but I also do believe that the parents of those with visual impairments are God's chosen parents as He knows that we have the ability to care for them.


Jocelyn and Nexelle
He was born with a congenital cataract, leaving him completely blind but at least we made it this far for him to at least achieve low vision.


He was initially screened upon birth, but they didn’t test his eyes. It didn’t take long for us to find that his eyes were unusually white when my brother-in-law shined a flashlight on them. We brought him to the doctor and he told us that he needed to have an operation but as he was sick with colds, they couldn't do it yet.

It was a long two years before he was cleared for operation since he had pneumonia that time. When the x-ray said he was finally clear for operation, he went home that day seeing lights and everything the world had to offer around him. That’s how he got low vision.


It’s difficult to write, even if my teacher helps me and my classmates make “tutok” since we’re all the same—low vision. We basically knock on objects to know what’s in front of us, almost like having our own stick. I have afternoon classes with 2 other classmates, being 3 in total. My eye grade gradually started to change along with the number of glasses I had in my life. Back when I was blind, I used to be so scared of loud sounds or surroundings I wasn't aware of. When I didn't know the person sitting next to me, oh Lord, that was scary. In kindergarten, I could never really play with the others. Mom told me that I used to look down all the time back then. But now that I can see, I have no more reasons to not be playful.




I got sick while having him. That's how he was born with the congenital defect even if it was a normal birth, not even a premature one. He would be so scared in school and the principal wouldn't allow me to accompany him because it was a public school. But thankfully, the school was working with the Resources for the Blind Foundation Inc. so we were referred to a doctor there. Until now, his glasses cost us a lot, but with the foundation's help, we only paid half the price. He still sees properly although his vision is blurred. I don't believe that God was responsible for this. It's nothing more than my own sickness when I was holding him. I'm a single mom who works while my own mother takes care of him. When he was young, he would always lie down in his own world but now that he will transfer to a regular school again soon enough, I hope he will never look down again.


Aimee Guevarra
I take so much time just to cross the street.


Hardly anyone helps us. Sometimes, the traffic enforcer does, but I’m on my own most of the time. At home, even if my relatives help in the chores and my husband earns our income as an electrician, I can never escape the pedestrian lanes unless it’s a good day and someone really helps. Climbing the stairs too. Bringing my daughter to school everyday is a challenge. My eyes have been measured for the third time already, not sure how well they have been, but I’m guessing some people would die to at least see a bit from being born blind, even if it’s only big letters at a time. I may not even be able to see one day, not even my own daughter’s face when she eats. Her face just lights up. Nor will I get to see her do her homework or clean the house before going to bed, or even sleeping thinking about what breakfast will be. So I take all the vitamins and vegetables I can right now, especially those really spicy chilis.




Hernandez Remedios
The first 3 months, she hardly moved.

Six months in and neither did her eyes, or so it seemed to be. They were so dark, like that bitter dark brown cup of coffee people would just leave on the table. Treatment or any kind of surgery at her age posed so many risks I wasn’t ready to take. So she had to continuously use glasses until now, but thank God she grew up into this beautiful girl before my eyes, although I wish she could also see what I mean. It’s hard for her to study already, because she’s often left behind as she can only read if the letters and the drawings are printed big enough. But she loves math. She’s good with numbers. She just can’t write her solutions in neat lines so they go all over the page like a mesmerizing complexity of numbers and equations that would make me think of Einstein or Da Vinci’s journals. We still constantly check her up with training and rehabilitation, but as I’m saying these words, I can see her holding my phone, dancing to a Youtube music video, and just having the biggest smile I’ve seen today.



A note of acknowledgement

Commuting through an unusually cold morning along the streets of Cubao, a group of high school students were soon about to listen to the stories of people who have courageously lived through visual impairment. As they sat down in a small space along the hallway, the trickling raindrops resonated with the beautiful stories these people had to tell, from their heartbreaking experiences to the brightest ones, and none of this could have been possible without the association of Leslie Severino and the staff of RBI who have arranged these interviews. Since calling the foundation last Christmas without any single clue as to how they were going to propose their advocacy project, they soon found themselves months later humbled and treasured with stories, spending weeks of transcripting, editing, and making the artworks despite not being highly skilled in that particular field. But as they nearly finished the compilation, it only dawned upon them that all these efforts were not for the sake of a school project, but rather, being a bridge to share the lives of the blind out of justice because the world can always use a story of courage.