30-year-old Stephen Dhieu has a Masters degree in International Law and a Bachelor degree in Social Work and Social Administration. Credit|Eye Radio

Stephen Dhieu is a 30-year-old Masters degree holder who can’t find a job in South Sudan –not for a lack of it, but because he is blind.

He holds two degrees.

“Most of the times I go for [job] interviews, and they will always ask; ‘how are you going to see to do the job’?” Dhieu told Eye Radio. “Generally, they are ignorant of my capabilities.”

Besides his Master degree in International Law from Makerere University, Dhieu has a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work and Social Administration from the International University of East Africa.

A frustrated Dhieu –who often wears dark shades [eyeglasses] –admits to omitting certain information when seeking employment to avoid being singled out during shortlisting.

“Sometimes I go to an interview and I deliberately don’t put stuff in my application to show that I am blind. So when I go to the interview, they say ‘why are you not including it all to your resume’ for instance my disability status,” he said.

Dhieu was not always blind. For almost two decades, the young man could see, he had no sight problem.

But then at the age of 16, Dhieu developed an eye complication after suffering from Glaucoma – a group of eye conditions that damage the optic nerve, which is vital for good vision.

The damage is often caused by abnormally high pressure in a person’s eye.

“I don’t see, in a layman’s term I can say I am blind -though scientifically they refer to it as virtual Impairment,” he stated with a fainted smile.

Stephen Dhieu was born into a poor family in Malakal town of Upper Nile state.

He went to Kowach primary school in Korfulus County.  For his middle-upper class, he enrolled at Malakal school where he completed class 8.

Dhieu then got a scholarship to Seroma Christian High Secondary School in Kampala, where he enrolled in senior one to senior four. He later did his advance level at London College Saint Lawrence in Kampala.

“The church paid for my school fees and tuition at the university,” Dhieu said.

In order to acquire his first degree, Dhieu learned how to use braille.

“It is a reading software and special talking device that allows those of us with no vision to use computers, cellphones and other electronic devices independently, and this is what I used in school after I got virtually impaired,” he narrated.

After his degree, Dhieu also got further exposure by travelling to Canada with a group of virtually impaired [persons] to be trained in ICT.

He acquired one more certificate in special information technology skills.

“For instance when a lecturer is talking, you can listen while typing because we mastered the computer keyboard, and for computing mathematical questions, we also used the computer to compute.”

Despite all these qualifications, Dhieu said it is still difficult for employers to give him a job.

“When employers see me physically they don’t look at my qualifications or what I possess,” said Dhieu, “they entirely think people with disability cannot do the job as expected.”

So Dhieu has resorted to selling charcoal to “survive and conduct research on people with disability across the country.”

Most of the time, he said, he survives on the kindness of friends and family who assist him financially, something he is not happy about.

“I am not saying I want someone to hand me a job but just give us a chance. I am not begging for a job. I don’t want any handouts. I want a job!”

According to the Union of Physically Disabled Persons in South Sudan, most people with disabilities are unemployed and there are almost no social safety nets and food security schemes for persons with disabilities in the country.

Barriers to employment include the accessibility of the working environment and the attitudes of employers and colleagues.
Dhieu says he is encouraging employers to change their stance because the country is losing much productivity by not employing qualified disabled persons.

“We have a lot to offer to the country because is not me alone that have attained a qualification as a blind person and can’t get no job,” Dhieu said.

There is no specific legislation relating to the rights of persons with disabilities in the country and South Sudan has not ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

“My appeal to the government is that they have to expedite the process of signing the disability policy that is in the parliament for us the disable people to be included in all aspects of society and development,” Dhieu urged.

He also calls on aid organizations and the government to support people with disabilities especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Brigitte Rohwerder Institute of Development Studies, the disability movement in South Sudan is mainly focused around Juba and engages in rights advocacy, awareness-raising, and programs aimed at socio-economic and political empowerment of people with disabilities.

“They have to set aside some good amount of funding, especially the World Bank, they should look for the disabled countrywide and have a database to support them financially so they can buy food, medicine and glasses for those partially disabled,” Dhieu underscored.

“In the long term, they should look at how to empower the disabled to go to school and manage businesses,” he added.

Statistics or comprehensive information on the number and situation of people with disabilities in South Sudan is lacking.

However, most estimates suggest that it is likely to be at least as high as the global estimate of 15% and a few household surveys have found similar percentages of people with disabilities within households.

Studies further suggest that the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder is very high in the country which is about 41-53%.

Disability is often stigmatized in South Sudan and as a result, children and adults with disabilities are hidden and isolated.

Stephen Dhieu urged those with special needs and particularly visually impaired persons to pursue their studies.

“Blindness hasn’t hampered me from achieving my goals, even if I had to work at least three times harder than students with sight,” he concluded.