Kevin Cutajar, of Xaghra, graduated as a lawyer last year and has been working at the law firm Grech Hyzler Tortell & Co, in Valletta, since October.

The 28-year-old is proud of his achievements and looks to the future with confidence and hope.

Nothing unusual about that; it had always been his dream to become a lawyer. But many people around him thought it was a dream that could not come through - for Dr Cutajar is blind.

Yet, even though he was aware of his physical limitations Dr Cutajar knew he could make it.

Having lost his eyesight aged 13 following an illness, Dr Cutajar, then a student at the Ninu Cremona Junior Lyceum, recalls that he felt his world had come to an end.

It took him five to six years to recover from the trauma - which was an even greater challenge than losing his eyesight.

Matters were made worse because there were no facilities - in terms of support and encouragement - then, for people who had a disability, he said.

"Thirteen was a delicate age. The lobby for the disabled was still being born and very few services were available."

There was absolutely nothing in Gozo and in Malta; there were only five to 10 people who had had the guts to go public with their blindness.

Eventually, Dr Cutajar recalled, he contacted these people who gave him ideas about how he could handle the situation.

When a software company developed a programme that could read electronic texts, the young boy, who was close to concluding his secondary education, started to see a ray of light.

It was the first step towards getting over his trauma. The software opened a window of opportunity as he discovered how it could help him with his studies.

Through this software, he could access the internet which brought him in contact with people who were in a similar position. This helped him get to grips with life.

Initially people used to make voice recordings for him of material from textbooks. He also used to record lessons in class, listen to them at home and take down notes on the computer.

He also presented a problem for the examination authorities. Should they read the questions for him and write his answers? Should the examinations be oral? Or should he do them on a computer? Although the software has been developed in many languages, including ones spoken by small populations, it was still not available in Maltese. Other countries, Dr Cutajar said, used this software to teach schoolchildren to speak their mother tongue properly.

Three organisations representing the blind - two in Malta and one in Gozo of which Dr Cutajar is a founder member - are trying to come up with a project to apply for EU funds to develop this software in Maltese.

Another problem for blind people locally, he said, was the lack of training in mobility with white canes or guide dogs.

Guide dogs had been in use for years in other EU states and owners of such dogs even get subsidies to feed and keep their canines. The organisations, he said, were currently working on bringing over three guide dogs, hopefully next year.

Another major hurdle blind people want to overcome is to vote on their own. This is such a big issue for the visually impaired that they took the Electoral Commission to court last March. The case is still pending.

"It is shameful that - for reasons known only to the Electoral Commission - Malta is the only country in Europe where blind people cannot vote independently.

"One can vote independently even in countries such as Ghana and Guatemala."

The disabled must progress, and society should realise they have something to offer to it, he said.

There still exists a situation where a disabled person is sheltered and not able to live an independent life. Disabilities should not be seen as tragedies but as challenges, Dr Cutajar said.

People who work and live close to a person with a disability should be aware of that disability and ensure their behaviour does not lead to further problems. This was why the policy of inclusiveness was of utmost importance, he noted.

He admitted that it had taken him a long time to accept his disability and sometimes he still had to fight himself when he tried to hide his disability rather than accept and show it.

Before getting his law degree, Dr Cutajar read for a BA Honours in Italian and German. He feels the first degree paved the way for his law course since he had got used to the system at university.

Dr Cutajar is a founder member of the Gozo Aid for the Visually Impaired, which is run by blind people.