To see

Recently, I have noticed that next to the word verification window, there is a link for the legally blind to hear the caracters instead. I don't know if this is new, or if I just had not noticed it before, but I really appreciated it. thus reducing the amount of things a blind person can not do.

A couple of days ago, I went to help tutor this girl in English. It is sort of volunteer work that roora does actually for this specific girl through Resala. That day, Roora was not feeling too well so I went to fill in for her instead. This girl Y has very poor eyesight, so while she is not legally blind, she can not see enough to read. she is 15, and she reads and writes in the Braille method. It was the first time for me to actually see a book written in braille up close. Of course because I can not read it, she has to read out loud and i would correct her pronounciation and tell her the meaning of the new words. She would move her finger across the page and read... and the difficult words she would just keep on going to and fro with her finger on it trying to read it. The book looked peculiar to me because it is totally white. all the pages are white like an empty notebook, yet for her it was full of knowledge. It was a little tough because if she can not read something, I can not read it for her, and sometimes we have to skip it for now. but she was indeed so happy to learn. It was the fist time for me to see someone write in braille too. I learnt just a few caracters watching her write, like the e is two raised dots next to one another, but i do not know if my fingers can ever learn to diffrentiate between the patterns of the raised dots.

And she was so happy to learn, and when she would pronounce something properly she would be thrilled. In the context of the lesson, there was this question about the future and what to do and stuff. She asked me: you are a dentist, right?

I said yes... and what would you like to be? a dentist too?

it just came out naturally because I do that alot, encourage little ones to have dreams , that they can be anyhting they want to be... dreams are the first step to make them happen. A second later I realized that being a dentist is something she can never be (unless she miraculously gets her eyesight back... ) and so I tried to correct my blabbering...: I bet you would make a great teacher though... wouldn't it be nice to teach?
It would be... she answered with a smile.

And she is so sweet, with a smile on her face all the time, like an innocent child. I finished and left feeling grateful to have met her.Sometimes we do not appreciate what we have except when we see others that do not have them. I wish her all the best in life always.