ASSESSING THE ADJUSTMENT LEVEL OF CONGENITAL AND ADVANTAGEOUS BLINDNESS: A CASE STUDY OF AISHA AND HALIMA

The study titled; assessing the adjustment level of congenital and advantageous blindness is a comparative research study between two blind students: Aisha Umar and Halima Usman Jibril of Kaduna polytechnic and Kaduna state university respectively. 3 research objectives raised are: to discover the self-concept of both individuals, to know their level of interaction with their immediate and extended environment; and to understand the similarities and differences between congenital blindness (C.B) and advantageous blindness (A.B) in academic and social aspects of life. The research instrument used for data collection for this study was an interview. The findings of the study in terms of Similarities between both cases of study; Aisha Umar (advantageous blindness) and Halima Jibril (congenital blindness) are as follows: that there is strong family support system, corporation of fellow students in terms of assistance, both also enjoy major support and understanding from their lecturers in their academic pursuits. Both respondents prefer the use of sighted guides for mobility. Again both do not engage much in their academic institution’s social activities. The Major differences between both blinding conditions are as follows: while Halima Jibril (congenital blindness) is more independent due to her ability to perform basic tasks by herself like cooking, washing, running errands, performing academic assignments without assistance; the case of Aisha Umar (advantageous blindness) is more of the opposite as she struggles without assistance. In terms of academics and learning, Halima Jibril (C.B) can use both Braille and typewriter machine efficiently, effectively with adequate speed; meanwhile Aisha Umar (A.B) is more familiar with learning and taking notes with Braille. On an individual level, Halima finds it easy to cope with her blind condition being that it’s how she was born and all she knows; Aisha on the other hand still struggles to cope with her condition as it occurred much later in her life. These findings thus elicited the following recommendations: that government, NGOs and other relevant agencies engage in mass sensitization campaigns of society to stop the segregation and isolation of visually impaired persons. That education of visually impaired persons should be prioritized as it gives them opportunity for independence living and contributing members of society.