[nabs] Fw: [Blind-international-students] FW: [stylist] Life as Blind Journalist in Afghanistan

[Anmol Bhatia]

I thought this would be of interest to many on the list.
Anmol


--- On Mon, 8/30/10, Reyazuddin, Yasmin <Yasmin.Reyazuddin at montgomerycountymd.gov> wrote:

> From: Reyazuddin, Yasmin <Yasmin.Reyazuddin at montgomerycountymd.gov>
> Subject: [Blind-international-students] FW: [stylist] Life as Blind Journalist in Afghanistan
> To: "Blind International Students Mailing List" <blind-international-students at nfbnet.org>
> Date: Monday, August 30, 2010, 9:01 AM
> Hi Everyone, 
> This is a good article for the internationals. Found it
> through another
> list. 
> Yasmin 
> 
> 
> Hi Friends,
> I just found this story about a blind journalist, and I am
> copying it 
> below along with the original link.
> Enjoy,
> Donna
> 
> Life as Blind Journalist in Afghanistan
> http://iwpr.net/report-news/life-blind-journalist-afghanistan
> Successful news editor and presenter overcame disability,
> prejudice and 
> low expectations.
> By
> Abdul Latif Sahak
> -
> Afghanistan
> ARR Issue 366,
> 1 Jul 10
> list of 1 items
> 
> Sayed Mohammad Yazdan Parast is a successful presenter and
> news editor 
> with Radio Nehad, Mazar-e Sharif.
> list end
> 
> Thirteen-year-old Sayed Mohammad Yazdan Parast was sitting
> in his usual 
> seat in the back row of the classroom, watching his teacher
> draw a 
> geometrical circle
> on the blackboard. All of a sudden, the central dot of the
> circle 
> disappeared. He thought that perhaps there was something
> wrong with the 
> chalk.
> 
> The next day, the Afghan schoolboy sat one row closer to
> the blackboard.
> 
> Over the next eight days he gradually moved forward row by
> row, until he
> 
> was sitting
> right at the front. But by this time he could no longer see
> the 
> blackboard, let alone anything drawn on it.
> 
> "I finally realised that it wasn't the blackboard or the
> chalk that had 
> lost their clarity; it was my eyes that had lost their
> vision," he told 
> IWPR.
> 
> Despite three trips to Iran to seek medical help, the young
> boy became 
> completely blind.
> 
> "The worst memory of my life is the day I heard the doctor
> telling my 
> father that my vision could not be restored," he recalled.
> 
> But ten years on, Yazdan Parast has overcome blindness to
> become a
> success.
> 
> A well-known journalist in a country where there is little
> provision for
> 
> the disabled, he now heads the news section of Radio Nehad
> in the 
> northern city
> of Mazar-e Sharif.
> 
> He reads the news by heart and presents a number of shows.
> He also 
> represents the journalists of northern Afghanistan at
> national 
> conferences, and participated
> in the peace "jirga" or assembly last month as a
> representative of 
> disabled people.
> 
> "If I appointed a sighted person instead of Yazdan Parast
> as head of 
> news at Radio Nehad, I would not feel so at ease," said
> Najibollah 
> Paikan, editor-in-chief
> and owner of Radio Nehad. "I feel calm now because Yazdan
> Parast is
> here."
> 
> Paikan added that not only was Yazdan Parast a good
> journalist, 
> presenter and manager, he was also exceptionally
> well-informed about 
> politics and history.
> 
> Yazdan Parast's career chances were turned around in 1999,
> when he heard
> 
> on the radio that the International Organisation for
> Migration was 
> assisting blind
> people in Mazar-e Sharif.
> 
> "I paid my first visit and started learning Braille script.
> Finding the 
> institution was the start of the solution to the problems
> in my life," 
> he said.
> 
> After four months studying Braille, he went back to school,
> and is still
> 
> studying there part-time. Once he graduates, he wants to go
> on to study
> law.
> 
> Yazdan Parast still faces a daily struggle against
> prejudice among the 
> general public. He says people call him names when he walks
> around the
> city.
> 
> "I ask those who say people like me are blind to cover
> their eyes one 
> day and then walk through the city. Then they will realise
> what this is 
> about," he
> said.
> 
> The abusive treatment he received was one of his main
> motivations for 
> becoming a journalist.
> 
> "I wanted to bring my voice, which only my family had heard
> so far, to 
> the government, the people and society to make them aware
> of the pain 
> that disabled
> people feel," he said.
> 
> When it comes to looking for a wife, Yazdan Parast accepts
> that his 
> choice cannot be based on looks.
> 
> "I cannot see beauties anymore. The only thing I want is
> for my wife to 
> understand me, to be literate and to have good morals," he
> said.
> 
> His father Sayed Mahmud Shah, a pharmacist at a Mazar-e
> Sharif hospital,
> 
> said that when his son lost his sight, he feared he faced a
> bleak future
> 
> like other
> blind people in Afghanistan.
> 
> "I thought my son would be a burden on his family, but
> today, the family
> 
> is a burden for him, because he helps me with the household
> expenses," 
> he said.
> "He's the pride of our family and our relatives. I never
> think of my son
> 
> as di
> 
> -- 
> Read Donna's articles on
> Suite 101:
> www.suite101.com/profile.cfm/donna_hill
> Ezine Articles:
> http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=D._W._Hill
> American Chronicle:
> www.americanchronicle.com/authors/view/3885
> 
> Connect with Donna on
> Twitter:
> www.twitter.com/dewhill
> LinkedIn:
> www.linkedin.com/in/dwh99
> FaceBook:
> www.facebook.com/donna.w.hill.
> 
> Hear clips from "The Last Straw" at:
> cdbaby.com/cd/donnahill
> Apple I-Tunes
> phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playListId=25924437
> 4
> 
> Check out the "Sound in Sight" CD project
> Donna is Head of Media Relations for the nonprofit
> Performing Arts Division of the National Federation of the
> Blind:
> www.padnfb.org
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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