Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) commends the Daily Sun for their positive article titled “Can you imagine? Blind girl published a book” (08/11/2012, p.29) about a young girl who despite her disability wrote a book. Thus, the article receives a GLAD¹ for not only accessing the child but also portraying her in a positive and empowering light.

The journalist, Simone Heradien reports how 14–year-old Adeifi Ugwumsinachi-Adeniran from Prinshof School for the Visually Impaired wrote and published a book entitled, “Can you imagine?”

The piece further indirectly quoted Adeifi who explained that she drew her inspiration to write the book from her “desire to express her imagination” and also because “she saw the need for more books in the school library.”

Simone went further to show Adeifi’s determination to succeed against all odds by publishing an excerpt from her speech about how being blind has its advantages, given that “You can ‘see’ the other side of the world.”

How the media reports on children often influences the way in which society perceive and approaches them. MMA Guidelines state that: “The way in which the media represents or even ignores children can influence…how the rest of society regards children.” The young girl in this story is an even more encouraging story due to the fact that she is blind.

MMA congratulates Daily Sun for the positive, encouraging story about a young girl who managed to realise her dream, and proving that one can achieve these dreams no matter their situation.

^{1. On a weekly basis, MMA highlights cases of good practice, where the media has promoted the rights and welfare of children, otherwise referred to as “GLADs”, as well as instances where the rights and welfare of children have been compromised through irresponsible media coverage, referred to as “MADs”↩}