By Sajitha Prematunge
3rd May 2015.
He experienced vision problems and color
blindness at an early age. But it was probably normal, he figured. But things
took a turn for the worst during the 3rd year of his degree in
Management Information Systems at NIBM. During the 3rd he
experienced extreme vision loss.
Tuan Mohammed Rushdi Cassim, 28, from
Enderamulla, Wattala has visual impairment. He has low vision. “At first
couldn’t see some of the colored segments of the slides, during lectures,” says
Tuan. But I thought this was normal. By the time he completed his degree, he could hardly
read. He was diagnose with Retinitis Pigmentosa in 2009, a condition that
causes damage to the retina, resulting in sever vision impairment and even
blindness. There is no cure.
So, it came as a surprise when Tuan landed a
job at a Wedding decoration firm, after a series of interviews. But it was even
more disheartening when his handicapped force him to leave only a week after he
started his job. “I hung around the bus stop for 40 minutes after I was let go.
I was at a loss,” says Tuan.
Tuan has come a long way since then. He spent
two years at home looking for a job. He hasn’t stop looking yet. He finally
picked himself up and took up Braille, in 2013, to face the challengers in head
of him. “I didn’t want to abandon my studies,” says Tuan. He had his primary education
at Carey College. But after the vision impairment set in he took a course from
the Sri Lanka Council for the Blind (SLCB) that enable him to operate the
computer without having to look at the screen, through a specially designed
software. He also learned to use the white cane at the SLCB.
Tuan now has an Advance National Diploma in
Human Resource Management from NIBM and a Diploma in Psychology from American
College of Higher Education under his belt. He is currently reading for his MBA
at the Human Resource Management Institute. When ask about his multidisciplinary
portfolio, Tuan said that HR and Psychology are additional qualifications. “Besides I was always good at psychology,
even at school”
A part from his education qualifications, Tuan
is an adept chess player. He was placed 2nd at the all island
visually impaired chess tournament. He is a swimmer, trained under Julian Bolling
and also a member of the SLCB cricket team.
But what makes Tuan unique is not the fact that
he picked himself up, but the fact he is able to help others like him through
his web site for entrepreneurs with visual impairment. The web site Entrepreneurs
with Disabilities (www.entrepreneurs-with-disabilities.com), is a multidisciplinary platform in
which entrepreneurs of different vocations such as candle making, acupuncture, musicians
etc can advertise their services, at no cost.
“Customers can contact them directly without a middlemen,” explain Tuan.
The web site is totally dependent on donations.
When asked what he hope to gain from
maintaining the web site, Tuan says “At SLCB I met many visually impaired
people who were engage in business,” he explained that there is no market for
products and services by people with disabilities and that he hopes to help
them find this niche market through this web site. “I intend to promote the web
site as an Information Base on entrepreneurs with disabilities, their products
and increase their exposure.”
Tuan is currently in the process of collecting
data of entrepreneurs with visual impairments.
When ask about his future plans, Tuan confided
that he hopes to develop a screen reading software distance learning course in
both Sinhala and English mediums for visually impaired people. “Not many
institutes offer computer screen reading courses and it’s difficult for
visually impaired people to travel for the few places that do offer such
courses”
Tuan fondly remembers the support of his
parents and uncle T.F.Cassim in all his endeavors.
