HANNAH: A BLIND GIRL WHO TWEETS
Hannah Mae Aldeza is one of ATRIEV’s graduates of the Contact Center and Sales Training Course in 2013 sponsored by Excelion Technology, Inc. Hannah is now one of the cross-sell agents at a company in Quezon City working alongside sighted colleagues. She was recently featured in rappler.com for the Pantene Whipit Series.
This is the story of Hannah, the blind girl who tweets, works and dreams.
Published by Rappler.com May 03, 2014
MANILA, Philippines – Hannah Mae Aldeza is 27 years old. She’s a daughter, a sister, a friend, and a hard worker. She is also blind.
Blind since birth, she has never seen the house she has lived in her whole life and she hasn’t seen the faces of her family members. Sunrises and sunsets are things she has only known in words. Hannah has learned to live with it.
More than that, she’s learned to thrive.
Hannah is a college graduate who’s currently holding a steady office job. This is not surprising for someone her age, but in a society where many blind people are still pegged as masseuses and musicians, it’s something she’s quietly proud of. She says she strives for excellence and breaks stereotypes not just for herself but so that people can see that blind people are just as capable as anyone else. She wants people to see what she sees.
Hannah still has a lot of goals she’s working to achieve. The world of her dreams is populated with independent living centers and transport services for her fellow blind people. Among her goals is to persuade people to stop using the words impaired, disabled and challenged. Her request is to be called nothing else but blind.
Her personal dreams though are simple. She dreams of the day when she can cook her own breakfast, get to work without any assistance, and go back home to call it a day.