By Alva Solomon

“I don’t allow anything to trample me; I trample things all the time,” says Ceion Rollox.

He can be seen on his phone, utiising the Whatsapp messaging platform like any other person. He walks along the catwalk at the University of Guyana (UG), hurried and looking for his class like most. For Rollox, being visually impaired is the least of his concern; however, a career as a radio broadcaster is.

At 19, Rollox, is actively pursuing a Diploma in Communication Studies at UG, the country’s leading tertiary institution and for him, almost at the end his first year, the tertiary environment is a challenge he finds manageable.

Rollox was born with congenital cataracts, which occurs in newborn babies for many reasons that can include inherited tendencies, infection, metabolic problems, diabetes, trauma, inflammation or drug reactions.

He was seeing well until he was about nine (9) years old when his sight began to affect him. In 2006, he went to Cuba for eye surgery. It entailed a pair of lens being placed in his eyes. However, in 2011, at age 14, he said his world started to become dark.

He admits that he was “a bit careless.” He would sometimes go swimming in the trenches or fetch heavy equipment, among other tasks he was advised not to engage in.

“I was trying to be like any other teenager.”

He signed up for the diploma programme last year, the same year he obtained 5 (five) passes at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination.

“When I wrote CSEC in 2015, I felt very optimistic about my future and I’m pursuing this programme because I really love the field of journalism,” Rollox told the Guyana Chronicle during a recent interview at the Turkeyen Campus.

A scholarship student, Rollox said that he enjoys writing, noting that the field of journalism is wide and it gives him an opportunity to be an all-rounder.

“Honestly I really want to get into the radio field,” he said, with a stern look. He said if he is lucky to land a radio spot at the moment, “by the time I graduate I will be well qualified and able to handle radio by myself.”

Being on the radio is a passion he hopes to fulfill one day.

While at UG, Rollox has obtained an array of knowledgeable facts and principles about the communication field, including information on human rights, the society and the “rules that apply to communications and journalism as a whole.”

“As a communication student, it helps you to speak better, teaches one what should be broadcast and what shouldn’t,” he noted.

“Before publishing information you most ensure that it is factual and accurate,” he added. Coping with university life is a challenge but it is one Rollox knows how to overcome.

“I am a very independent young man. Coming to UG, sometimes I take a car, sometimes I walk.”
He lives across from the campus at Sophia, hence walking to class is an option he sometimes prefers.

As regards the classroom environment, Rollox noted that the technology of today is playing a key role in his academic pursuits.

“We are living in a technological world and most of our information or documents are sent out electronically so it is very easy for us to get our notes,” he said.

During the lectures, he is able to understand what is being taught given the skills employed by the lecturers, whom he noted are good at teaching.

“Sometimes Ms Braam would use a slide (PowerPoint presentations) and she would read and explain and I would type as she teaches on my laptop,” he explained.

He said that his laptop, which he described as a regular computer, is equipped with a programme from the Freedom Scientific technology group. The company created the programme to assist persons who are visually impaired. The software, JAWS ( Job Access With Speech) was developed by the company and it is utilized globally. It is said to be the world’s most popular screen reader, developed for computer users whose vision loss prevents them from seeing screen content or navigating with a mouse. JAWS provides speech and Braille output for the most popular computer applications on your PC.

As regards the courses, Rollox said that he thinks English and Sociology have been his strong points as well as the written communication courses. The others, such as the communication theories and journalism writing, can cause a headache or two for him.

Final examinations are on the horizon at UG and Rollox is preparing to handle the pressures of those exams. “I don’t allow anything to come over me because I try to always keep a calm head,” he said, noting that he is one of many who have practice and master the art of last-minute studies.

Rollox lives his life as normal as the person sitting next to him. He said that he perseveres with the blessings of the Almighty.

“I grow very rough not as a baby; nobody ever pet me and when I lost my sight it never bothered me,” he said.

“I am strong; I won’t allow my visual impairment to pull me down in life.”

His advice to anyone who is suffering from impairments is that one should not allow challenges to stymie their upward mobility.

“I pray to God, because you know God promises to hold our hands and I think young people should encourage themselves”, Rollox pointed out.

He then told a story of a man who had no food for his donkey and his last option was to bury the animal in a hole.

“The man decided to bury the donkey and each day he throws dirt and the more he throws the dirt, the donkey rose until he reached above the hole and come out “, Rollox explained while maintaining a stern look throughout the interview.

He said his family plays a significant role is his academic pursuits and he noted that his mother, aunts and his grandmother are the pillars behind his ambition of furthering his studies.

“You know giving- up is never an option”, he said.