A highly optimistic and jovial individual is Rosmarie ‘Rosie’ Ramitt who refuses to dwell on negativity but chooses to work with a situation as opposed to working against it. In fact, we can safely conclude that Rosemarie’s attitude is the epitome of confidence and optimism.

Meet the beautiful 19-year-old whom you would not believe is visually impaired! Rosie, of Triumph Village, on the East Coast of Demerara, spoke to us in a pretty lively interview at the Guyana Society for the Blind on High Street a few days ago.
Rosemarie was not born with visual problems. In fact, she was a normal, healthy child growing up and attending school. Somewhere at age 13, though, loss of proper sight suddenly descended upon her.

Today, she sees bright colours and can discern when an object or person is in front of her. However, she cannot see to read nor can she comprehend graphs, charts, pictures and the like.
Rosie recalled: “I remember I was looking in the mirror and I saw a bulged horizontal line. I went to my mother and called her to see the line. She was making fun and saying I probably have worms in my eyes because just days before, we were watching a documentary on a man who actually had worms in his eyes. We didn’t take it for anything because there was no other symptom.”
In the days to follow, Rosie’s eyes would burn her profusely and be so watery that she would have to excuse herself from class to go wash them in hopes that they will return to normalcy. Eventually, though, they became red and this was the point at which she could not on occasion see on the chalkboard or inside of a textbook.
This happened while she was a Second Form student of a private school named Life Spring at La Bonne Intention (LBI), Easty Coast Demerara. Prior to that she had attended Starter’s Nursery, St Agnes Primary and Annandale Secondary, where she spent a short time.
“Up until age 13, I had no vision problems or any illness associated with vision or any history of anything. That’s why when it happened it was shocking. For an average person going to school normal and all of a sudden you learn that you have this disease and you learn that it started two to three months ago and you weren’t having any symptoms or signs and you learn that its curable but yours isn’t… it was a very drastic change for me to deal with and I guess that’s why I came out of school,” related Rosie.
She continued: “Inside, it was something I could not deal with. I was depressed. To get me to come out of the house, to do advocacy work, I could not do it. I was ashamed to walk with a cane. Only until I was exposed to other blind persons, then I realised that I am not where I am supposed to be. It was because of Ganesh Singh and the rest of them that I am where I am.”
She believes today that had she have the attitude she has now, she would have fought to stay in school. “But things happen,” she accepts.
Rosie’s condition has been diagnosed as something called “Leveitis” and doctors have told her that though its generally curable, hers isn’t. “Every time I used medication, it got worse so they came to the conclusion that it is some disease in my blood but they just don’t know what it is.”
The good news is that Rosie is not one hundred percent blind. “When my vision was in the process of deteriorating, it was worse than it is now. I really couldn’t see an object directly in front of me. I did surgeries in Brazil and it got better and now, it is a bit worse but not to the extent it was earlier. I can see depending on the lighting. I can see bright colours or objects in front of me. Because I used to see before, just a glace of an object and I can tell exactly what it is,” she related.

Not a challenge

Not being able to read poses no challenge to Rosie. In fact, she wrote the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) Exams with the Guyana Society for the Blind last year and came off successfully with five subjects. She scored Grade Ones for all.
“Not being able to see or write is not a challenge for me because it’s not about working against a situation; it’s more about working with a situation. I have a computer software that reads everything for me (JAWS). There is no challenge other than those areas where there might be graphs, charts and pictures. That’s the only challenging part. But I would perform like any other average student.”
Rosie credits JAWS and her family’s support for her academic success. Her mom Sonia, dad Reagan, and siblings Kurt, Celina and Alana, provide her invaluable support. “I have their support one hundred percent. They help me with my homework, etc. They put in a lot of hard work.”
Rosie is currently a student of the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) and intends to climb the education ladder for as high as possible. “After leaving college, I am going to be teaching. Alongside teaching, I want to get a degree in education and then I want to go on to get my masters and hopefully, if my mind is in the right state, I want to get a Phd, just to go as far as I can and then when there is no other way to go, you just stop there and then settle down or something. I also want to advocate for other persons with disability,” she disclosed.

‘Work with your situation’

“When I do stuff, I do it because I am genuine. I don’t do it and expect something in return. I don’t do things for the glory of it. I do it because I genuinely want to help people and see other people with disability succeed,” Rosie said of herself.
Interestingly, she does not regret what has happened to her with regard to her sight. “If I weren’t in this situation, I would not have the influence that I have now. Other blind persons can look and say if she did it, I can do it.”
Rosie advises the following: “Stop looking at what has happened to you or what you don’t have and start working on what you have because things can only get worse if you work against a situation. I really believe in being logical and reasonable and realistic rather than being in this fantasy world where people think it’s happy ever after and all these things. If people look at the reality of life, they would tend to be logical. Don’t try to do things that are impossible or things that you know you cannot do.”

By Telesha Ramnarine