Col. Oleh Avtomeenko was wounded while performing a combat mission in Donetsk.
Blinded after Russia invaded, a Ukrainian commander dedicates himself to helping others losing their eyesightJune 15, 2024, 5:01 AMLVIV, Ukraine --
Col. Oleh Avtomeenko, left, with fellow soldiers in Avdiivka, Donetsk region, Ukraine, in 2019, in a handout photo.The former deputy commander of a mechanized brigade said he feels sorry for civilians who have nothing to do with army, but who have also lost their eyesight during the Russian war against Ukraine.
During two weeks of its first phase this March, four veterans and one civilian woman learned how to navigate in space without eyesight, including cooking and working with computers and smartphones. Avtomeenko traveled to Lviv to participate. This March, on the premises of the local professional college of hotel, tourist and restaurant service in Lviv, the participants of the project learned not only how to use laptop, cellphone and other digital gadgets, but also how to cook and how to walk using the white cane.
"I am a living proof that one can live despite blindness -- I think that is the best example we can provide in order to push people for further development," says Volodymyr Pyrig, 35, a journalist and blind trainer at the program. Another veteran, Anton Bohach, a volunteer and former truck driver from Kropyvnytskyi, learned how to use a smartphone but said he was not ready to deal with the computer, explaining that he doesn't feel a proper push to start working in this direction.MORE: 'Not going to leave': Family returns to Kharkiv after fleeing when Russia invaded
"In the majority of cases there is a prejudice that if you are blind, it automatically means that you are not going to make it, you are incapable of doing some job," he said. "There is even no chance to try through the internship – in order take your chance to prove that you actually can." He is sharing his videos through his video blog, TikTok, Instagram and YouTube -- letting people know what the life of a blind person looks like: "I work mostly on the laptop, listen to some content on YouTube, and learn English or Polish languages through the audio lessons as I need to develop myself – there is no point in being stuck in the moment."
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