She is pursuing Masters with Nepali as her major from the Tribhuvan University, however Gauri Thapa finds it difficult to find time for her classes as she works as a receptionist at the Kathmandu Model Hospital. You may think so what? But Thapa is visually-challenged, and attending to calls and handling numerous people who come are a challenge manages with apparent ease.

“Initially during the trial period, I had problems using the phone, not knowing medical terms, but now I am fully confident and do not face any problems,” says Thapa, who has been working here for the last four years. “Just because we are visually-impaired does not mean we cannot do anything. We have brains like other people, and if we try, we can do almost anything we wish to do. I think because we have been deprived of one sense, out other senses work even better,” she adds.

Thapa had normal vision as a child, but she started losing her ability to see after her SLC.

“I guess if you are visually-impaired from childhood, you can handle yourself better. But since it happened to me at a later stage, I do face a lot more difficulties,” she says.

At the desk where she sits, there is a sign that says receptionists at the hospital here are visually impaired. People usually have different reactions when they find this out.

“Some people have been quite encouraging, while there are some who look down on us,” she says, however, she adds, “People are entitled to their opinions. It really doesn’t bother me. I do not feel sad because of my condition.”

She is proud of being an independent self-dependent woman and says, “I can take my own decisions and can take care of my personal expenses. There has been a huge difference since I started working, I can now manage things on my own.”

Her inspiration are those “visually-impaired people who have broken boundaries and become self-dependent”. Thapa has dreams of being a Nepali teacher in future.