Inclusive education, good job are answers to a blind girl’s prayers

In 2006, life virtually stopped for Rhea Guntalilib. Until then, she was an outgoing, happy-go-lucky teen who loved traveling to new places, even by herself.  But after 18 years of seeing the world in full color, the then nursing student lost her eyesight due to retinal disease.

Two years later, Guntalilib “saw the light” again. She learned how to use the computer to create programs using a software that read what she typed.

Now, she joins thousands of Metro Manila yuppies every day on the MRT to make the daily commute to her new office at the 29th floor of the Smart Tower, headquarters of the country’s largest telecommunications firm.

Guntalilib, a fresh computer science graduate of Informatics computer school, is the first blind programmer at Smart Communications.

She considers the job an answered prayer. Just a month or so before graduation, she was feeling depressed  wondering what to do after graduation.

“I’m very much aware that people like me do not find a job that easily.  So when Smart called me, I told myself this was such a blessing.  I didn’t have second thoughts,” she told the Inquirer.

The 24-year-old Nueva Vizcaya native is part of a team of eight young programmers in Smart’s Platform Services Group that “codes” programs to get prepaid loads from retailers to mobile phones.

The team also writes computer scripts that direct transactions frequently used by prepaid subscribers, like balance inquiries and pasaload (load forwarding) requests.

Given a break

Smart’s senior manager for community partnerships Darwin Flores heard about Guntalilib at a joint event with Informatics.  She was then completing her final year at the school.

Flores immediately wrote  Smart’s human resource office, asking, “Can we give this girl a break?”

Within days, Guntalilib was at the Smart Tower for a three-hour interview that assessed her technical abilities and her capacity to work in an office environment.

“It was such a humbling experience for us because we’re so blessed. We have all our faculties and here was somebody who (became) blind at age 18…,” said Flores.

Guntalilib almost missed the opportunity for a job at Smart, losing her zest for life six years ago when she became blind.

“For two years, my life stopped.  I stayed home, I didn’t want to talk to anyone …  I only left the house to go to church,” she recalled.

Guntalilib told herself she would only do something with her life if her eyesight was restored.

Her ordeal started in December 2005 when she contracted typhoid fever.  She had seizures for two weeks and her blood thickened, causing blockages in her eyes that stopped the flow of oxygen to the retina.

The damage could only be repaired through expensive stem cell therapy, which her family could not afford.  By early 2006, she had lost her sight.

She also spent weeks in a hospital’s intensive care unit, unconscious and “a vegetable.” It was a miracle she was able to get up and walk again, she said.

Guntalilib had to relearn activities she used to do when she could see, like walking around the house or doing chores.

“I took one step at a time, (trying things) like walking around the house, even washing the dishes … until such time I was able to make coffee again,” Guntalilib said in an interview at Smart Tower.

After two years, Guntalilib finally decided it was time to emerge from her depression.

“I realized I had to accept that this was meant to happen.  I had … to move on … I couldn’t go on like this,” she said.

Guntalilib studied braille at a special education center in her hometown.  She was later referred to an inclusive education program at Saint Louis University in Baguio City, where she had her first computer training for the blind.

Guntalilib then enrolled at ATRIEV (Adaptive Technology for Rehabilitation, Integration and Empowerment of the Visually Impaired) Computer School in Quezon City, where she mastered the use of a computer screen reader, a software that provides the blind access to regular computers by verbalizing what is typed onscreen. The audio assistant could read by word or by letter.

In 2009, she got a scholarship at Informatics and took up computer science on its Diliman campus.

If they can, so can I

“I felt that it was the way for me to have a job someday because what a sighted computer science student can do, I can say that I can also do in my own way,” said Guntalilib.

She also realized she really liked what she was doing.

Now, a month into her first job, Guntalilib has become an inspiring, cheerful presence for her colleagues who think of her as astig (tough).

“She is very positive.  When we encounter something that we think might be hard for her, she’s positive that there’s a way for her to do it,” said Princess Bungay, her workstation seatmate.

With the help of a guardian, Guntalilib takes the MRT from Quezon City to get to her office  by 7:30 a.m.  Like most employees, she works eight hours every day.

Guntalilib and her team are currently undergoing familiarization training to map out “very complex” codes that make prepaid-loading transactions work.

“If there’s something I can’t understand, my teammates are always ready to help.  I appreciate that even when they are busy, they give me one or two hours (for) discussion,” she said.

Her team has also set up a buddy system—a member is tasked to assist their newest colleague in walking around the building, taking the elevator or ordering food from the canteen.

The single Guntalilib gets teased when male teammates are assigned to assist her.

Smart conducted an orientation for the team so they could help Guntalilib. It also placed markers to guide Guntalilib’s path from the elevator to her workstation.

But Rhoda Santos, Guntalilib’s supervisor, said “Rhea is not that dependent.  It’s very convenient for the team that she doesn’t need much assistance.”

Her experience has given Guntalilib a new perspective on life, looking at problems as challenges instead of hurdles.

“Everybody has struggles.  I keep in mind that I’m not the only one in the world who has a problem. If I take it too seriously, nothing will happen to me.  There’s more to life,” she said.

“And I always say that the hardships, the obstacles, are all God’s will. So I just submit to the will of the Lord and I say ‘I leave it up to you,’”   Guntalilib said.

Spending her downtime on Facebook, like most others her age, she posts updates meant to inspire and motivate like: “Someone else is happy with less than what you have.”