IN the heart of Duhaney Park 64-year-old Donovan Jemeison, a visually impaired man, refuses to let darkness take his independence.

Jemeison cooks, washes, and cleans his house as if he never lost his sight.

His story began with a diagnosis of borderline diabetes, which he initially brushed off until his vision began to blur in 2008.

Jemeison told the Jamaica Observer that he was eventually diagnosed with diabetic retinopathy, a condition that occurs when blood vessels in the eye are damaged due to high blood pressure. The blood vessels become weak and can easily be broken, separating the retina from the back of the eye.

Despite multiple doctor visits his sight continued to deteriorate, worsening in 2012 when he underwent surgery to correct the problem.

“When it just started, it was like a nightmare; I just didn’t know how I was gonna live with it. And then, after a while, I just accepted seh it wasn’t going to come back,” he told the Sunday Observer.

Rather than succumbing to despair Jemeison embraced his new reality. Before his vision went completely he said he made a conscious effort to retain his independence, practising daily tasks with his eyes closed in preparation for the inevitable future of darkness.

He shared that, at first, it seemed very challenging but soon muscle memory took over and performing these tasks without his sight became second nature.

“When I was seeing, I felt it was more difficult. Now, like how I know that I’m not seeing, I try to be cautious with everything I do,” he said.

Jemeison said that before he lost his sight he loved to cook and made it his mission to retain those skills through the use of sound and touch, preparing a meal at least once a day.

“If I’m going to fry some fish I clean it up by myself. When the pot is hot, I put the fish in there. How I know it’s ready is at first it has a loud sizzling sound, so I know when the sound goes down it needs to turn, then I use the same thing to say, ‘Okay it’s finished,’ ” he explained.

“If I have to put a little salt in the pot I make sure I throw it in my hand first — I don’t just throw it in the pot. I use my touch to measure,” he said.

“On my microwave, my friend put some little buttons that I can feel to know what is on and off, and it’s the same thing with my washing machine, so I know how to work everything,” he added.

Jemeison boasted that he got so good at cooking that for a year he made fish and sold it to residents in his community.

“Sometimes when me a peel yam, somebody might come here and a watch mi and seh, ‘No, you can see’ because they can’t believe seh me peel the yam so good and peel off all the skin off it,” he told the Sunday Observer.

Jemeison’s tenant, Janet Richards, said she was sceptical about his self-sufficiency until she rented a section of his house.

“To live in the space where he is now fascinates me. Sometimes I even joke and say to him, ‘No D, you a see because how you know to take out the food and know seh it ready?” she said, laughing.

“I will be cooking in my kitchen and he is telling me ‘Miss Rich, that wah turn yah now, ennuh,’ and I say ‘Donovan, how you know seh it wah turn?’ and him seh, ‘Mi just know, man.’ It’s amazing how he always knows — and he’s never wrong, and he makes it look easy,” she said.

Richards said that Jemeison’s story serves as a beacon of hope for the visually impaired, reminding them to embrace life’s challenges with resilience and positivity.

Jemeison, in encouraging other visually impaired individuals, urged them to, “Never give up, no matter the circumstances. Anything you love to do, if you practise enough, you can do it again.”