Jennifer Dede: Meet the visually impaired form 2 student aspiring to become a renowned journalist
- Jennifer Dede is a visually impaired student living with her mother in the Eastern Region
- The Form two (2) student aspires to become an esteemed journalist and advocate for persons living with disabilities
- Dede narrated how she became blind and her story of resilience
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A visually impaired teenager, Jennifer Dede who lost her vision at age seven has given a goosebumps-raising narration about how she lost her eyesight.
Dede who was abandoned by her father has had to endure and live with stigma even from the people she calls family.
Recalling how the light in her eyes began dimming at age six, Dede told Joy News in an interview that she became blind after she suffered from a medical eye condition called Glaucoma.
''We went for an eye checkup at Emmanuel Eye Clinic and the doctors performed surgery on me. Everything went well, but when we visited again, the doctors said I needed a second surgery at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital because blood had surfaced on my eye after crying so hard.''
Since then, Dede's eyeballs started sinking in and she became completely blind.
The Form two (2) student at the Okuapemman Senior High School decried how some family members treat her because they feel she cannot do anything for herself without help.
''Most people in my family including my mother feel it's a taboo to have a person with visual impairment. I'm always being referred to as a child because they feel that everything that I'm supposed to do for myself someone always does it for me,'' she decried.
''Even a family member said that I'd rather die than having a child like you.''
Dede is resolved to become a renowned journalist and advocate for persons living with disabilities.
''I want to move beggars from the streets into workers. I want to change that perception that once you're a person with a disability you have no option than to go to the street and beg,'' she said.
Dede also shares a story about her friend Benedicta who has been forced out of school.
Watch the video below.
YEN.com.gh earlier reported on Tyrone Marhguy, one of the teenagers who was denied admission into Achimota School because of his dreadlocks.
The brilliant junior high school graduate was refused entry into Achimota School for his hairstyle, which goes against the rules of the reputable school.
Freshman Tyrone and his father, Tereo Kwame Marhguy, have granted interviews challenging the decision by authorities at the Achimota School refusing to admit Tyrone because of his natural hair.
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Source: YEN.com.gh