Losing one’s sight is a life-changing experience, full of fear and uncertainty. But for many, blindness is not an end—it’s a new beginning. Gray Light highlights individuals who have turned vision loss into a reason for growth, purpose, and empowerment. Incredible people are redefining what it means to live with blindness. Mr. George Abelsi created his own ways of seeing, and Madam Janet Ogbowdoh honed her other senses, their experiences prove that blindness does not limit their ambitions or independence.

Mr. George Abelsi is not just a leader—he’s a father, a grandfather, and a man who refuses to let blindness define his life. We met at the Ghana Blind Union headquarters in Accra. As if he could see every step, he told me each landmark at every turn while I was accompanying him to his house at Nima. We had a very insightful conversation with Mr George. I asked him what he thinks about blindness and he said “If you always think about it, you are harming yourself, just think of it like it's one of those natural things, you are not the first person and you will not be the last person. We understand that no one wants to be blind but things happen and you just need to adapt to it.” Mr George added that people must respect PLWDs. In his words “When people see us they must respect us, sure that we are blind but the ability is there you understand, there are other people who can not even walk who can not come out (move around) but we are able to go round…” He even went further to explain how he navigates his way to work and back; “when you get up in the morning, where I’m I going? How will I go there? You know where you are going. What are you going to do before you take off?. You count your steps, you set your mind on one thing that I'm going to work your mind on, all is I'm going to work. So where will I pass? I'll pass here, I take a cab, I’ll alight at where, Mental (a bus stop). I’ll cross the road, then I will go to Adabraka polyclinic then to the rehab center (GBU). When I close from work, where am I going? I'm going home, so how will I go? O I'll cross the road here and take the Trotro (Bus) to Tema station from Tema station How will you go? When I get to Tema station the mates (Bus/ station conductors) ask me which way are you going? I am going to Mawuye station and you go in so that when we go to the place I am going to alight there, you're going to be all right.”

When Madam Jane asked me to meet her at a bus station in Makola Market, I was shocked that she alone came to buy items for her food business, then from there we moved to her place at Labadi. I was particularly curious to hear her story so I asked, How did you become blind? " And her answer was quite peculiar, she narrated “I am visually impaired but not from birth. Even after my marriage I was going to work, and in a bus on my way to work, a wind like a foreign body blew on my eye and that’s the beginning. So I went to the hospital,Agogo, Korle-bu, kofaradia, Bator, Cape coast here and there and later, at long last,I became totally blind. Like a dream, I asked her what she sees at the moment, she said, “I can imagine there are some, something like a star on the eye and part is like red, part black, and part white. Sometimes I see like web form on the eyes.” 

Observing from Mr George’s experience with the roads I asked him about how he became blind and I got some interesting answers that he doesn’t even fully trust the healthcare system. He said “It was glaucoma. One day I was lying down and decided to test my eyes. I waved my hand—I couldn’t see. I called my father. They thought I was joking. We went to the hospital. They operated on the right eye, then the left, in 1976. I became totally blind in 1989. Glaucoma gives no warning. It comes suddenly. That’s why I tell people to do eye tests regularly. It’s like erosion, it weakens the veins and slowly puts out the light. There’s no treatment once it’s advanced. If detected early, drugs can help. But surgery? I don’t recommend it. I regret mine. Before the operation, I could still see with one eye and do everything. After surgery, it got worse. Most people I know who had glaucoma surgery are blind now. Only cataracts, those white films on the eyeball—can be removed safely. Glaucoma affects the veins, destroys them. Cataracts sit on the eye’s surface. They’re easier to deal with.”

How do you map the world? I asked Madam Jane. “You see the thing that we have five senses, if you lost one,

then the rest became very active. I use my mind, to work, and to touch, to feel, hear and move around too. I also like games, but I'm alone so I have not been doing it, but I listen to the radio and television for news and drama, I enjoy it paapa (very much).” and her advice for those in the same condition? “They should feel as if they are normal people, me at times I feel like I'm able because, disability is not inability. If you are disabled that doesn’t mean you should look down upon yourself. And then you calm down about the fact that o ah now I can't do anything, I'm lonely, I'm blind, ehee for that dei. me Janet like this, I don't make myself like that, I move around, I go... you see that I went to Accra alone, I went alone and I can come back alone. Even sighted people need help, and at times we may need help. So you can rely on somebody to come and do what? help or assist you. You have to prove to society that disability is not inability. You can do whatever you like, feel like a normal person, like a human being. Tho, some people stigmatize us. You see this; Oh, you can’t see. Where are you going? What are you doing?  They feel if you are... disabled then you will have to stay at one place, you shouldn’t do anything. But you are also like them, so they should allow us to be independent and to feel free.”

Gray Light aims to challenge misconceptions and create a society where persons with disabilities (PWDs) are valued and included. Gray Light is a call to action. Share these voices and help create a world where everyone, no matter their physical constraints, can live with pride and meaning.