VIRGINIA Woods has never felt challenged by her inability to see.

Instead, the Jamaica Society For The Blind executive director has not only used this to her advantage, but for the benefit of close to 30,000 visually disabled people in Jamaica.

Not only has she provided effective leadership to advance the work of the Society, but has demonstrated through her academic achievements that visual impairment need not to be an impediment.

Woods, who was born with a sight defect, has lobbied tirelessly over the years for the implementation of policies and legislation for members of the blind community. She has, for example, called for official documents to be done in Braille or recorded on audio cassettes. In more recent times, she has asked the government to put measures in place to ensure that members of the blind community can exercise their rights under the Access to Information Act.

Woods has also lobbied for safe sidewalks, access to public buildings and a greater sensitivity to the concerns of the visually challenged.

“I love what I do, and it gives me a good feeling to see a blind person be able to function effectively in this society and it is something I would never tire of doing,” Woods told the Observer on Thursday.

It is in recognition of this and other achievements that the prestigious Stella Gregory Award will be bestowed upon her later this evening by the Soroptomist International.

Woods was born in Baileys Vale in St Mary, in a year which she wished to keep guarded.

Woods recalled that her mother, who was determined that she would get an education, took her to the Salvation Army School for the blind, where she learnt from the regular school curriculum.

At the age of 19, after completing her studies at the school, she had no option but to return to her home in St Mary, where she remained unemployed for the next three years.

Tired of just sitting at home, Woods said she was relieved when the St Mary Parish Council made her an offer: the council sent her to Kingston to be trained as a telephone operator. Her church, Bethel Baptist, stepped in to pay for her boarding accommodation in Kingston.

After completing the course, Woods landed her first temporary job as a telephone operator at the Comprehensive Health Centre in Kingston. She then got another temporary job at the Ministry of Health.

She landed her first full-time job after she completed a secretarial course at the Jamaica Council for Persons with Disabilities. She told the Observer that although she was grateful for the job as an audio-typist, she had a hard time paying her bills.

“The pay was small. I was only getting $40 per week and I had rent to pay so I decided I was going to leave the job,” she recalled.

However, Woods said she received encouragement from Sheila James, a teacher at the School for the Blind, who told her not to leave.

“After I finished lamenting to her about the pay and how I was going to leave, she said to me: ‘Go home and come back tomorrow and tell me if you can find one person who will give you $40 per week without anything attached,'” Woods recalled.

“I said, I know no one. And that is how I decided to stay,” she added.

It is a decision that Woods said she has never regretted.

Ten years later, she said she was sent to Antigua to pursue a rehabilitation programme, where she was taught how to train blind people.

Upon her return to Jamaica she was given the post of director of training services, and then executive director – a position she has held since 1992.

“When I got the position, I decided that I had to go to the University of the West Indies (UWI) to acquire some management skills,” she said.

She enrolled and completed a certificate programme in management studies before going on to successfully complete a bachelor’s degree in Public Administration.

Speaking to the work she does at the Jamaica Society for the Blind, Woods said it has been challenging, but nonetheless extremely rewarding. This is, despite the fact that the society is struggling financially.

“Sometimes I end up not getting any pay, but I have a genuine love for the job,” she added. She also pointed to the effectiveness of the work the Society’s staff do in transforming the lives of blind people. Woods cited an example of a field officer visiting the home of a 20-year-old blind man, who was seen in bed in pajamas in the middle of the day, along with a pail by his bed.

“When she [the field officer] inquired why he was in bed, she was told that it is because he was blind,” Woods recalled.

However, after the Society intervened, the young man was allowed to leave his bed and later became a leader in his community youth club. “When you take a young man like that out of his bed and into the community, you can’t help but feel wonderful about what you do,” she added.

But Woods noted that the Society had fallen on hard times as, in addition to its funds drying up, the organisation also lost the support of a number of volunteers. This, she said, had resulted in the organisation having to pay for every service.

The Society receives a subvention from Government as well as some private sector companies, but the bulk of their funding comes from fundraising and the implementation of projects.

“But we still need money for the day-to-day running of the organisation, because some months we can hardly find money to pay salaries,” she admitted.

The Society offers a wide range of services to both the sighted and the blind. It currently offers an eye-care programme, particularly in the schools where people can get free eye tests done to detect any sight defects from early.

For those who are already blind, the Society puts them in touch with organisations that provide various services. They are also taught to use the white cane, which enables them to be able to move around unassisted.

“The Society believes in integration of blind persons; we have to equip them to function as any normal person,” Woods explained.

Pointing to the use of technology, she said blind people have now learnt to be even more computer-savvy than some sighted people. “We have a computer analyst here and he is very computer-savvy,” she said proudly. “The blind persons use up technology more than anybody else,” she added.

Demonstrating her own use of the computer – which has been installed with a voice software that allows her to follow verbal instructions – Woods said she is able to get most of her work done without relying on others for assistance.

She boasted that the technology also allows her to print information from her computer, on a special machine, and have it transferred to Braille.

But according to Woods, a lot of people are unaware of how technology – although expensive – is being utilised by the blind. “So, for example, when someone invites you to a function they don’t know that they should e-mail us the agenda information to be put on Braille before we get there, so we can follow along,” she added.

Woods will certainly get a chance this evening to make this and several other pressing points when she accepts her well-deserved award for her sterling contribution to the field of the visually challenged.