On her first day of guitar lessons, offered by her village church, Mary Rose Attard decided to keep a secret from her teacher for fear of being asked to leave.

Her deteriorating eyesight had already forced her to leave school and Ms Attard, who was 16 at the time, did not want to have to give up her passion for music too.

“The first day I almost fell down the stairs and my teacher put on the light because she thought it was because it was dark,” Ms Attard, now 51, smiled at the memory.

But as time passed Ms Attard could no longer hide her condition and had no choice but to speak up.

To her surprise and delight, her teacher was ready to work around Ms Attard’s disability.

“Whenever she wrote down chords for the class to copy, she also said them out loud. That’s all it took… I used to study guitar very hard. I wanted to learn so badly,” Ms Attard recalled.

Thirty-five years later, Ms Attard leads the choir of that church – the Good Shepherd, in Victoria – and last month her choir went to Rome for a private audience with Pope Francis.

I decided to try and develop my other senses and I wanted to prove to my friends that I was the same Mary Rose they knew before

To Ms Attard, her guitar remains a symbol that, if she puts her mind to something, she can do it.

With time she even started composing music and lyrics by typing out the chords or words on her typewriter. She could not read what she wrote, but others could.

Accepting her condition was a tough journey. Ms Attard started losing her eyesight when she was about 12 years old.

“I remember it was during an Italian lesson and the teacher asked us to read in turns.

“When my turn came I could not see the page properly,” she said as she recalled one of her earliest memories of her blurring vision.

Some time later she was diagnosed with glaucoma – a condition resulting from damage to the optic nerve that leads to progressive, irreversible vision loss.

She has several operations since then to try to minimise the damage and although she is not completely blind, she has little vision left.

“At night I’m a hopeless case. During the day I have a blurred vision. I can see there is someone in front of me but I can’t recognise who it is. I can see there is something white there,” she said, pointing towards a saucer, “but I don’t know what it is.”

When an area is familiar she can move around freely, without help, but she will not venture into new spaces alone.

After being diagnosed with glaucoma she had to stop attending school and did not manage to complete Form 5 – one of her greatest regrets.

“My only option was to get a certificate stating I could no longer go to school. But this was the late 1970s and there were far fewer opportunities then,” she said.

She remembered the heartache she felt when her friends became independent and could buy clothes and items they wanted, but she remained financially dependent on her parents.

“But I realised God had a plan for me, like he did for everyone, and I accepted my disability.

“I decided to try and develop my other senses and I wanted to prove to my friends that I was the same Mary Rose they knew before,” she said.

Then an opportunity came along for her to prove herself when she heard that the Good Shepherd church was going to be built and young people were being taught guitar to play during sermons.

The guitar helped her rebuild her self confidence and, within a few years, she started heading the youth community and even helped organise plays.

The youth centre also served as the backdrop for a new chapter in her life: there she met her husband, Raymond, who took care of the lighting and sound for plays and performances.

Last month they celebrated their 24th wedding anniversary. The couple have a daughter, Raissa, who is now 23.

“Because of my condition, my husband had the opportunity to be more involved in her upbringing.

“From my end I always made sure I did what I knew I was capable of doing,” she said, adding that she had lots of support from her mother.

Between managing a family and her involvement in the Good Shepherd community, Ms Attard always felt her plate was pretty full.

Then, in 2000, she took on a new challenge and became actively involved in the disability field on the recommendation of a blind friend.

She was involved in setting up the voluntary organisation Gozo Aid for the Visually Impaired.

She started reading and learning more about disability with the help of technology advancements for the visually impaired.

Ms Attard soon became more aware than ever that there were various disabilities in Gozo, so she helped form the Gozo Federation for Persons With Disability, which was set up in 2003.

A few years ago, the Gozo Ministry set up the office of the Gozo disability services’ coordinator within the Santa Marta Day Centre in Victoria, which offers a variety of services for the disabled. In 2008 Ms Attard was appointed as the coordinator for disabled.

“I wish to see more disabled people becoming involved in the sector to make their voices heard.

“No one can understand the needs of disabled people better than a disabled person,” she said.

Disability in Gozo

There are about 2,000 people with disabilities in Gozo and Ms Attard believes that one of the main problems they face is lack of employment opportunities.

Another major problem is that those who leave school at the age of 16 have no place to go afterwards.

Ms Attard believes this can be addressed by increasing opportunities. Offering employment schemes was positive but, all too often, these were temporary solutions.

It was time to introduce a State service that trained people, evaluated their strengths and weaknesses and carried out job coaching to help disabled people find and retain a job, she said.

“Gozo’s small size can be an obstacle in some aspects, like employment, but we can turn it to our advantage.

“The distances are small and it makes it easier for people to come together for a common goal,” she said.

The Sunday Times of Malta is telling the stories of people with various disabilities who are overcoming societal barriers. These monthly articles are not aimed at depicting these people as ‘super heroes’ but at helping society understand the needs and concerns of the 34,600 disabled people in Malta, and Gozo, who are often hindered by lack of accessibility and understanding. Anyone who has a story to share can contact ccalleja@timesofmalta.com.