Visually impaired man tops massage therapy licensure exam
Olymar Adiba, along with 20 other visually impaired graduates of the Area Vocational Rehabilitation Center II in barangay Labangon, Cebu City, passed the massage therapy licensure examinations administered by the Department of Health (DOH) last December and January.
The 25-year-old Adiba placed third in the exam, besting more than one thousand able-bodied examinees, including professionals.
“We made it and for us it is an unexpected blessing from the Almighty. What is even good news is that all my classmates passed,” said Adiba.
He said they were able to prove that lack of formal education or even an elementary education is not a barrier. He said he will ask batchmates to encourage other graduates to take the exam.
By passing the exam, “You become more confident and secure about performing massage professionally,” said Adiba.
Adiba had some difficulty answering the questionnaire. He used an adaptive answer sheet similar to Braille.
Article continues after this advertisementThe center is a vocational training facility operated by the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
Article continues after this advertisement“It’s a big day for us in DSWD and we’re all ecstatic,” said AVRC II superintendent Herminia Cabahug.
She said this was the first time in the history of DSWD-7 that their blind graduates, most of them unschooled, passed both the written and practical exams, after undergoing a rigid six-month review program. The program was initiated by the DSWD with the help of training provider Marites sTatara of In-Care and the Helping Hands organization.
Although Presidential Decree 856 or the Sanitation Code of thePhilippines was made a law in 1975 and Administrative Order 102 in 1999, the DOH announced its full implementation only in 2011 in all levels of its accredited training institutions, including the government’s AVRC for persons with disabilities as well as training providers.
This law ensures that only qualified individuals enter the regulated profession and that services of massage therapists follow standards.
