Inside the unseen world of the visually impaired

B y Ngozi Nwoke
For 36-year-old Patricia Osademe, the day starts at 5:30am, rushing to have her bath that early to avoid being pushed down by her co-tenants whom she shares the same bathroom with.
Thereafter, she taps her white cane along her familiar Thompson Street in Oyinbo, counting the potholes she has memorised, and listening for vehicles to know when it is safe to cross the roads. By 9:30am she is at her store, where she makes beaded bags, sells them and braids people’s hair.
After losing her sight as a child from an unexplained illness, and attending a special needs school, she learnt the bead making skill, and now lives independently, but daily life is expensive.
 
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