Davao's First Blind Medical Transcriptionist

I once lived in a world full of sunshine, where colors were a sight to behold. But even at that time I have the ability for it, I never basked in the glory of the wonders that surrounded me. Then the brightness that showered my world suddenly turned to complete darkness. I felt alone, helpless and vulnerable. I felt afraid, confused and depressed. Then like a virus, all that I felt turned to anger, and that anger was eating me up inside. But we all have choices to make. I chose to make my life better.

I may have lost one thing, but I gained many. I fought against darkness. Darkness that ruled over me at a time, but it’s not going to get me the second time around. In a world of technology and advances in other fields of endeavor, discrimination is very much felt. We belong to a society, but we doubt if society embraces our presence. We may not be able to see or hear it, but we feel the cold stares of strangers. That’s when I decided to take computer training at Resources for the Blind or RBI. An organization that trains visually impaired people to have an access to computers.

After my computer training, I got enrolled at MTC Academy for Medical Transcription course. Being the first and the only blind student to get accepted at MTC, the pressure is on. All of my ups and downs, struggles and tears, I took it all as a challenge. With much support from my family, sponsors, friends, and God’s wisdom, I was able to finish the six-month course in four months time. After I graduated and become a certified Medical Transcriptionist, that’s the time I face the real world.

Things I’ve learn to become a successful medical transcriptionist.

MT’s can act Like an Ant. Three lessons stand out from the metaphor of the ant:

First - they appreciate the ethnic of hard work. Their lives are a flurry of constant activity as they tirelessly search for food.

Second - ants refuse to give up. They never abandon the hunt, crawling through cracks, and crevices in their pursuit of a morsel.

Third - ants understand the value of compounding. Grain by grain an ant builds the hill that becomes its home and crumb by crumb they accumulate storehouses of food.

As an MT, we have almost the same personality as an ant. It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer, and gathers its food at the harvest. Each MT has a treasure trove of ability inside of them. Every MT has dreams and desires lodged within their soul to make their life better and be a successful one. Why do some people dig deep and take hold of their dreams while others let them drift away? Successful MT’s give sustained attention to what’s stirs within them. They find outlets for their passions. We were trained how to transcribe, edit and proofread as well. But it’s not all about that, we also learn the value of patience and the ethnic of hard work for our fellow MT’s. Exercising their strength is non-negotiable to become a successful MT.

FAILURES

A lot of times I’ve cried even before I became an MT. I’m a bit pressured. This is due to expectations of other people, being the first and the only visually impaired enrolled at MTC Academy and now employed at ZipIt MT Production Company. I also have this attitude of expecting too much and setting standard for myself. But I’ve come to realize that even “abled” people can make mistakes and we all learn from our failures. “Learning starts with failure; the first failure is the beginning of education.”

Working with my fellow MT’s at ZipIt Company, I’ve gain trust, courage and self-confidence from them. We don’t just sit there and listen to the doctor’s dictation until our nose and ears bleeds to death hehe! We also have time to talk anything under the sun and learning from our own failures. Now, every time I make mistake in my transcription, I always take time to ask myself these questions:

When I fail, what did I do as a result?

Did I feel bad about myself?

Did I withdraw from the pursuit of whatever it was that I failed at?

Am I now doing the thing I failed at then?

Am I doing it successfully?

Is there anything I would like to do now that I am not doing because I might fail?

How an MT answer those questions, or more accurately, how we have lived out the answers to those questions has the power to determine where we are going to end up in life.

Our answers will determine our success in the areas that we care about most. We will explore the positive ways we can deal with inevitable failures on our path to our goals. There is also another certainty; failure. It is absolutely given. It is the nature of everything. In fact, without failure we never succeed.

SUCCESS

Being visually impaired, I know there will still be a lot of failures, trials and obstacles I may encounter to become a successful transcriptionist. I’ve learned from my MT colleagues that to become a successful one, it’s not about the completion and accuracy of our work but our ATTITUDE. It is a big factor for us to become successful in everything we do. In ZipIt, I’ve learned the value of pride and humility. PRIDE is concern with WHO is right, while HUMILITY is concern with WHAT is right. Successful MT’s have a healthy dose of humility. Internally, humility comes when we admit our errors during editing, and open ourselves to instruction. Externally, humility is gained when we show patience for the mistakes of our fellow MT’s, and when we are quick to shine the spotlight on the success of others. Being a differently-abled person, I turned my disability into an ability to become a successful one.

One thing I’ve learned from our school administrator, Ms. Wit Holganza is that successful MT’s should DO something. They should initiate, create and generate.

Successful MT’s are PRO-ACTIVE as opposed to reactive. They do not see themselves as victims of circumstances, but as active participants who take steps to influence outcomes. Their days and their lives are controlled by internal motivations rather than external currents in a similar vein, successful MT’s take responsibilities and ownership for their destinations in life. They don’t assign blames, they welcome responsibility. They refuse to cede their freedom to others and live dependently. A successful MT has done leadership’s toughest task-mastery… the art of self leadership. The benefit of leading yourself well is that you don’t have to rely on others to provide direction of your life. You get to plan the course.

More News on Honey Baula:

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/06212007/economy05.html

http://mindanaoexaminer.com/news.php?news_id=20070701074453

http://pia.gov.ph/?m=12&fi=p080416.htm&no=35&r=R11&y=&mo=