"I always say that
we are blind, not blind people
. Or those who see, if one asks them, do they consider themselves 'sighted'? No!", says Daniel Ibañez.
In 2003, due to glaucoma, his eye pressure rose and he lost much of his vision in one of his eyes.
In 2004 he went blind.
"The power went out and we started back," he remarks, and argues: "At the beginning they were two very hard years, I stayed at home and didn't go out."
At the fair in the square there are Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.
However, a few years after having suffered visual impairment in one of his eyes, he began to attend the
Special Education School No. 506 in Lanús
, where they taught him to work with leather and do all kinds of crafts.
"At school we do workshops. They prepare us to go out, they do a very important job," says Daniel.
And he adds: "That was precisely where I met Érica, who we are with to this day, my partner. I always say that she threw a net at me," he says.
Some of their products for sale
It is that over time both Daniel and his partner, Érica Cisneros, knew how to form a work team based on the learning they received at the School and managed to get ahead working on their own.
He works in a small workshop that he has in his house, going through the manufacture and repair of canes, to all kinds of materials related to leather: purses, wallets, backpacks, fanny packs, backpacks, belts and mates.
"
She's the one in the front,"
Daniel points out.
"I suffered a foot accident, that's why I don't go out as much -he explains-, but sometimes she spends all day on the street, when she goes to sell to institutions".
A matera completely made of leather.
“Life is a challenge, but not only for us, that's why I say it, if not in general, for everyone.
Think that
I used to polish floors, and now I do everything.
I do a bit of everything as long as I can," says Daniel, who in addition to working in the manufacture of handicrafts is a massage therapist.
"I learned everything from friends, neighbors who were pushing me to do it, or, as I said before, at the School," he admits.
"For example, Luis Ailliala, my neighbor, was the one who taught me to sew. He told me '
if I can sew with my eyes closed, you have to be able to!',
and from there I learned", he highlights.
"I learned about massages in a course I took in the Federal Capital that I was able to go on my own, but it was thanks to the School," remarks Daniel, who on that occasion went alone on his own
from Lomas de Zamora to the Federal Capital
to be able to learn the massage techniques that he uses today in his professional life.
Another of his designs, a backpack.
Today the product of their work is sold to different people, either individually or to different entities, such as schools for the blind or libraries for the blind, among others, although their goal is to expand.
On Facebook they are found as
"Artesanías en Cuero Pg"
, and every Saturday, Sunday and holidays he is, together with Érica, at his stall on Manuel Castro street, at the Lomas fair located in Plaza Grigera from 3:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
About the end, he summarizes: “Today I can do, if I do just that,
20 poles a day.
What happens is that it depends a lot on what I do, some days I'm a stickman, other days I'm a masseuse.
You go looking for it as you can ”, and she closes with a laugh: “With Érica
we are a 2x1 summer promotion, a combo”.
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