TED EGE COLLEGE / 11-A
Interview with Mr . Barbaros Akçagül
Defne ÇÖREKÇİOĞLU
We have a very special guest who is a colleague and a close friend of my father . He lost his ability to see in his early twenties . He is working at an office . He is married and is a father . Today we are going to see how to overcome obstacles and how to make them stepping stones from his perspective .
1-Hello Mr . Akçagül , I would like to ask you some questions about your life if possible . You are so positive and even more positive than the people I know around me and you look like as if nothing is impossible for you . How do you do this ?
“ Indeed I feel myself lucky about my close friends at work and my family . They never make me feel disabled and sometimes we even forget about it . My wife is also my biggest motivation . There is a bias that the disabled should marry someone like themselves . But this is completely wrong . My wife is not disabled . She always supports and believes in me .”
2-What do you do here at the office ? Is it difficult for you to work and communicate with people ?
“ I work as a telephone operator . I put through phone calls . This is one of the best jobs for the visually disabled . I don ’ t have any difficulty in communicating with people around me . I am used to the place and my colleagues .
3-What are your hobbies ? Do you listen to audio books ?
“ I do not prefer audio books as I find them boring . Instead I watch YouTube videos . I ’ m very good at washing my car . I always clean it myself in a very detailed way . I also clean and cook fish at home . Nevertheless my wife doesn ’ t let me do it at home anymore because of its smell . Furthermore I ’ m a good swimmer . I do not hesitate to enjoy life . Once I wanted to jump from the highest trampoline into the pool in Aqua Park . I carefully climbed up the stairs because if the lifeguard had noticed that I was visually disabled he would not have let me . It was fantastic . Afterwards we told him the truth and he did not believe it .”
4-To what extent can you benefit from technology ?
“ I can use laptop . It ’ s specially designed for the disabled . Each one of our fingers are for the letters . It ’ s not my field of interest but most of the visually disabled can use laptop really fast and some can use even faster than other people . As we do not use mouse we are better at using the shortcut keys of the computer . We have some special applications for our phones . We can listen to the news and are able to catch up with the latest events . There are even some apps that tell how many people there are while taking photos and if they are smiling or what colour clothes they are wearing you can also understand the amount of money in your hand or the colour of shirt you have chosen . However I prefer asking all these questions to people around me . For the visually disabled , the benefits of technology are very crucial . With my smart phone I can do everything that you can do .”
5-Is it difficult to travel and walk around alone in your city ?
“ With the help of my white stick I can walk through uneven yellow parts of the pavements . Most of the state facilities are designed as suitable for us too . But I prefer walking around with my friends . When my son was a little baby , I used to walk with him using infant carrier . I used to like those precious moments much .
6-How can you find the things you need in your office or at home ?
“ We have a perspective in our mind . In time we memorize everything , but not by counting our steps . People think that we remember by counting however they are mistaken we use our sense of touch with hands . Your dad knows that when we moved to our new office , I found it difficult to walk around at first but then I have got used to it .”
7-What was the biggest challenge for you at the beginning ?
“ The biggest challenge was not my physical obstacle but people ’ s viewpoint . As a society we need to break down the barriers . Twenty years ago , graduates of faculty of law used to work as operators , but now they can work as lawyers . There are disabled people working in important positions today . However there are still some people who think that the disabled cannot be socially active ; they need to stay home and live only by assistance . There is a good Turkish movie ‘ Buğday Tanesi ’ A physically disabled Member of Parliament agreed on the movie with a Film Company . I strongly recommend it to you .
“ People ’ s viewpoint sometimes upsets us and we try to overcome it . But we need to keep in mind that everybody might be disabled one day . It ’ s not certain what will happen tomorrow . Nevertheless you need to CATCH LIFE BEFORE IT PASSES PAST YOU !”
-Thank you Mr . Akçagül for sharing your experiences and valuable thoughts with us today .