Learning how to write computer code is hard for anyone. But imagine trying to learn it when the tools, textbooks, and websites assume you can see the screen. This is the reality for Afolabi Oyebiyi, a Nigerian backend software engineer who builds digital systems he cannot physically see.
Afolabi works at Cyclone, a software consulting firm in Nigeria. His journey into technology is a powerful story of patience, adapting to change, and pushing through a world that was not built for him.
Afolabi’s relationship with the digital world changed forever in 2005, when his eyesight began to fail. As his vision deteriorated, he had to completely rebuild his life and find new ways to interact with technology.
He spent time in rehabilitation centers, where he first learned to use:
• Screen Readers: Special software that reads out loud the text displayed on a computer screen.
• Braille: A system of raised dots that allows visually impaired people to read by touch.
Armed with these new tools, he decided to chase a career in technology. He enrolled at the Lagos branch of the National Institute of Information Technology (NIIT). He was the very first visually impaired student in the history of that branch. Together, Afolabi and the school had to figure out how to make lessons work.
The Challenge of “The Tutorial Wasteland”
For a blind person, learning to code online is often an uphill battle. Afolabi calls this difficult journey the “tutorial wasteland.”
Most self-paced online coding schools and platforms promise that anyone can learn to build apps. However, almost all of them rely heavily on visual interaction.
• Unreadable Textbooks: Many programming books are sold as images or PDFs that screen readers cannot process.
• Visual Coding Tools: A lot of modern software development tools use drag-and-drop features or maps that require sight to navigate.
• Sudden Updates: If a development team suddenly changes a tool or shifts to a new platform, a blind developer’s screen reader might stop working with it overnight.
Despite these major hurdles, Afolabi successfully became a backend engineer. In software development, the “backend” is the hidden engine of an app. It handles data, security, and logic behind the scenes, rather than the visual design (the frontend).
Writing backend code fits his workflow well, but the day-to-day struggle between his capability and software accessibility remains. He constantly has to find workarounds for tools that treat accessibility as a secondary thought.
Why Accessibility Matters
Afolabi’s story highlights a massive gap in the global tech industry. Many artificial intelligence (AI) models and software tools are designed for the contexts their creators understand best, often ignoring the needs of disabled or underrepresented developers.
By speaking out about his experiences, Afolabi reminds the tech community that making platforms accessible isn’t just a polite extra feature it is an absolute necessity for inclusion. He continues to write code, solve complex problems, and prove that you don’t need sight to build the future of technology.
