From the article in the blog "Everything has its story" written on August 15th, 2014

I was born in 1967 in Kranj – still in our comon country Socialistic Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. I was born blind what my mother noticed when it was almost too late or to state it better: to the fact that everything regarding my eyes would almost be too late, contributed quite some my eye doctor which I was asigned to at the time, also. However the doctors after quite long fight with the eye illness called glaucoma or – as people usually say – green cataract, managed to do something anyway.

As half blind girl I’ve lived the majority of my childhood in institution called “Zavod za slepo in slabovidno mladino” (Institution for blind and half-blind children) in Ljubljana where I also attended primary school and was part of quite some other activities there too. it was not easy to live in such institution, but like every positive person – what I’m trying to be my entire life – I like to remember pleasant moments of being there the most, which there were quite many aswell. We played a lot of musical instruments there, sang, danced, recited poems, played in our own theatre, did many handworks, we were activists of UN and we also have read a lot. The majority of us read books written in Brailles script or we got books with very enlarged fonts to read.

That’s how we were gaining erudition and other skills and knowledge through the years and prepared ourselves as much as we possibly could for the life “out there” which was ahead of us. I have to say that teachers and the rest of the staff put huge amount of effort and time in raising us however still the life “out there” caught us quite unprepared. I was quite unprepared as well and when I started to attend “normal” middle school I had quite big amount of troubles, probably quite some which were not neccessary and for which I was guilty by myself. Despite all difficulties I was challenged to somehow finish at least 2 grades of middle school. I wanted to study languages but I ended up in Middle school for hotel management and tourism which was not, if I look back now, even a bit suitable for me despite the fact that my sight was quite better after quite some eye surgeries and I could read and study from normal books, use normal notebooks etc, no matter that only one eye could be partially saved. I always presented myself to the people as self-confident and energetic person and that was maybe the reason why no one followed my progress after I left the Institution for blind and half blind children. Nobody asked me how I am and how I’m doing anymore and I also never was asked if I maybe need something. Everything was self-evident and maybe it’s even better that way.

After 2 years of middle school I was asured I will get the job in the company where my parents worked. At least it was set to be this way, but at the end it all turned different way. I all of a sudden found myself jobless with only 2 years of Middle school and there was no sign things could move anywhere. I went to Institute for Employment every week, searched through the lists of jobs offered but nothing seamed suitable for me. Self-confidence was dropping and dropping until one day I asked for the possibility of forming the estimate of my working abilities. It seamed to me that I am capable of doing nothing in my life at all and even various tests I was put through couldn’t persuade me I can do almost everything despite their outcome was high marked.

Well, so I was going to institution Soča (which among all cares for rehabilitation of disabled people) to so called “rehabilitation” process and daydreamed about me having my own computer one day and having a job where I will work with computers as well. However on the other hand my thoughts were filled with fear that my sight is probably not good enough for this and everything could really only be a dream and nothing more. At that time in 80s the era of computers only slowly started to come to us and the first magazines about computers and computing only started to isue in our country at that time. There was BIT the magazine of Dnevnik publishing house and Moj Mikro which was raised from Teleks magazine enclosure about computers, which became independent magazine later on and it isues even now (I work in a publishing house which isues it today). I bought all those magazines and read them all despite there were only studies and articles about what could and what can be done with computers at the beginning and only later in there were also some little programs published which could be used by ordinary people if one only had a “rubber” and casette player at home. Well, all in all, dreams are not forbidden (yet) and so I daydreamed my own dreams aswell.

Besides those wishes about computers I also had a wish to know as many languages as I possibly could and the fact that my mother’s firend’s husband was German who didn’t understand and speak anything but German language was just handy. As I wanted to talk with him occassionally as well, I decided I’d learn German totally by myself. Even now I praise the day when the media publisher “Založba Kaset in plošč RTV Ljubljana” (RTV Slovenia now) in partnership with Karl-Marx Institute from Germany started to publish language courses on casettes named “2000S” which were even not so expensive and I could afford them. I’ve bought both courses of German language “Nemščina 2000S” and my journey through the World of languages began. In the periode when I searched for a job I was even so bold that I went to do the exam of 1st step of German language. I passed it however it can’t be of any pride to me as the marks were not even a bit brilliant. No matter what I knew German well enough I could even talk to mother’s friend’s husband despite he spoke only dialect and he was quite often very hard to understand. But I didn’t stop here. As those courses were so brilliantly formed (I even now regret they never got out on CDs or DVDs so today’s generations of those eager to speak foreign languages could use them) I afterwards bought everything what I could grab: all 3 courses of English and 1st course of Italian (but I didn’t buy French – who knows why really. Probably because I didn’t intend to learn it at that time.).

Despite all this languages knowledge I all of a sudden realized the education I have won’t bring me any job at all because at that time in our country there was a kind of rule – or better said, stereotype – that blind and half blind people only can work as phone operators or physiotherapists. The door to other jobs were slowly but steadily closing for many of us though. The fact that majority of employers judged candidates according to how they look like and not what knowledge they posess added the rest to the trobles of getting a job (sadly today isn’t much different in many cases). So I decided to attend the education program for phone operators which I ended with ease for what I have to express my gratitude to all those professors and teachers who provided me with special (individual) exams termins.

With attestation of two finished education programs – Receptor assistant and Phone operator – I've got periodical work in health insurance institution where they recorded my every single working day for which I can only be grateful to manager of the institution at the time. And I later worked as phone operator at Airport Ljubljana aswell. After three years I was offered with the job of phone operator in textile gigant which is no more today – Tekstilindus – which I gratefully have taken and was employed there for 5 years until the company got into bankruptcy. In this periode I also refreshed and improved my English language knowledge which I gained in primary and middle school and I even studied some italian. All this knowledge of languages came very handy as I had to call to several places of the World daily.

However, my self-confidence didn’t grow much in all those years. I had a lot of work to do with myself and with the wonderings if I work good, how other people see me and similar stuff, especially when there came the time of unemployment for me again. It all happened in those turbulent times when our country Slovenia tried to gain independency and in the time when computers and the computer era really started to come to our country at last.

Despite I was unemployed again I still bothered myself with what I’m capable of and what I’m not and my dreams to be a computer “geek” once seamed further and further away and unreachable each and every day. “I don’t see enough at all!” I said to myself over and over again and persuaded myself that this isn’t for me, all of this probably only to ensure not to be disappointed too much when I finally find out I was right in that matter. I went to Institute of Employment every week again and I even took some courses for self-employment but they usually don’t give too good results and ideas about what kind of company you should raise and what you might do. All this was going on until they – I don’t even know how it actually happened at all – offered me to attend the computer course or precisely the course of basics of MS-DOS and word editing program WordStar. Those of you, who know only how today’s operation systems like Windows, Linux and similar work, and you’re keen to use only word editing programs like Word and similar, those of you can probably hardly imagine that WordStar was the programe in which you practically had to manually type the DOS-like commands for bold, italic and other ways of text formats and that there were only few fonts for which you had to put commands in manually and the mouse was for us unknown future yet. Well, I can’t even remember everything in details anymore (it’s 22 years ago already), however I do remember very well how I stood infront of the door of one of those computering “schools” in which course was held and would almost (probably for good) throw my dreams away despite I signed for the course. I stood in front of this door and pondered my thoughts whether I should enter or should I turn around and go home. But the desire to fulfill my dreams was stronger than doubt in myself and I entered still very confident I won’t see on the screen anyway and they’d waved goodbye to me after the first school hour of the course.

Do you think that actually happened? Of course not! Not only they didn’t dismiss me, I was even one of those best participants of the course who grasped immediatelly what it’s all about, not to mention that, that I might not see on the screen was not the case at all. My several years dreamt dreams finally started to come true.

Half a year later I’ve got the job in today one of the largest media companies in Slovenia where I started as preparator and editor of classifieds and through the years (there are 21 of them now) improved to chief of staff of the small department with the best team of co-workers of the World, all disabled people one way or another like me, but still unstopable, bold, and addicted to the work they do, who are full of knowledge, secret tallents, wishes and dreams, just like I am. But at work not only I have the best team of co-workers of the World, I also “found” my best friend there, who, if I wasn’t get this job, I would probably never meet.

But the story doesn’t end here. If I wanted to acheave through the years what I have now and what I became, there was a lot of work to do yet. The most important thing was to raise my level of (formal) education. So in the year 1996 I decided it’s time to give my education a new value and so I started to attend 3-years education programe for administrators which I successfully finished in 1998. It was not an easy task to do as I’ve met my husband Toni in 1994 as well what brought a new value, new meaning and new momentum to my life to fulfill new goals and dreams among which were also those about happy family. Because at home there were other things to be done and the school was not the only thing I should do in my life I actually did all my school work (as I like to say in jest if it even is true) in the classes where I listened to lectures and on the bus when driving to work and home where I did neccessary learnings and readings. After successfully finished school our son Martin, who is already a whole young man now, was born too. He’s also bound to modern technologies like I am, just that it all lies ahead of him yet and he is only at the beginning of his educational and life journey.

And so, here I am to write a new stories about things for you, all thanks to that historical day in that historical year 1992 when I followed my dreams and gathered the courage to enter, to enter on the doorstep of the new world, of (for me) new dimension which I slowly travel through toward new knowledges with following new technologies as much as possible.

Addition to the article

Now, after exactly 30 years of being employed by that Media company, I've retired a year ago but the languages learning and working big portion on the computer are still occupying my life. Our son is attending University of Ljubljana and studies ... (you've guessed) computing and math. So, the story goes on ...

Article was edited before posted here.