JEDDAH, 7 February 2007 — Due to the increasing use of e-government services, Ebsar Foundation for the Rehabilitation and Vision Impairment Services and Rehabilitation has inaugurated a Microsoft course for people who are blind or visually impaired.
People with vision impairment can now enroll in an Ebsar course entitled “International Computer Driving License” (ICDL). Such people can also partake in a program to familiarize themselves with the English language.
The first group of participants partaking in the course are aged between 16 and 40. While some of the participants are students, others are gainfully employed.
Faisal Al-Ghamdi, who is in his late 30s, said he heard about the course through MBC FM. “Although the course itself is new, its trainers are experts and generous in offering all the help they can to make us feel comfortable,” he said.
Al-Ghamdi, a father of two, developed weak vision due to retinitis pigmentosa six years ago. He attended regular school and university and has a degree in public administration. He worked as a training coordinator for the Royal Saudi Navy and was facing mandatory retirement due to vision loss when he came across Ebsar and was able to learn skills that enabled him to continue working in the same position.
Al-Ghamdi now looks forward to completing his course and helping his peers with the knowledge he has learned. “In the same way I was offered help, I want to pass what I have learned here to others in similar situations. We finally managed to refresh our memories and follow up on many things that we could not catch up with due to our vision impairment,” he said.
Syrian national Asmaa Arnaout, 28, agreed with Al-Ghamdi and said she looked forward to pursuing further education if possible. Arnaout is blind from birth and has osteoporosis which has caused her to be wheelchair-bound. Arnaout’s mother home-schooled both her and her brother Nojub who also suffers from blindness and osteoporosis. Ebsar also sponsored her and her brother for physical therapy and rehabilitation at Abdul Latif Jameel Rehabilitation Center.
Manal Al-Joaed, 27, a Saudi national, is a high school graduate. She is currently unemployed and suffers from severe loss of vision due to retinitis pigmentosa, which she developed when she was at high school. Al-Joaed completed her first year at university but was unable to continue her education due to her poor eyesight.
Participants believe there are many people who have vision problems and having programs like the one at Ebsar would benefit such people greatly.
According to Muhammad Bellow, Ebsar’s executive director, this is the first time Ebsar is offering a course which aims to enable people who are blind or visually impaired to keep abreast of modern technology.
“We were inspired to introduce the continuation of education for the blind and the visually impaired into the foundation’s long-term strategic plan along with their rehabilitation programs in order to help people overcome the consequences of vision loss,” said Bellow.
Ebsar came up with the idea after attending the International Council for Education of People With Visual Impairment (ICEVI) conference in Kuala Lumpur in June last year. Following the conference, Ebsar signed a one-year contract with the New Horizons Computer Learning Center to train 40 blind or visually impaired people in the Microsoft ICDL course and a foundation level course in English.
Each program is three months long and each class consists of eight people. Males and females are taught in separate classes. According to Bellow, there is no criteria in choosing subscribers — the course is available on a first-come-first-served basis regardless of age, sex and nationality. Those who have no working knowledge of computers are offered preliminary courses in order to make the actual main course easier to understand.
To make communication and learning easier, instructors from New Horizons attended a one-week orientation and training course at Ebsar to learn the basic skills needed in dealing with people with visual impairment. These instructors have already begun training the first two groups from last month.
Bellow explained that in order to encourage more people to join the course they would offer each participant, who successfully completes the ICDL and foundation level English course, a laptop equipped with Ibsar text-to-speech software. “This is an effective software that helps people with vision impairment to continue their education and careers,” said Bellow.
Sponsoring the program is Prince Abdul Aziz ibn Ahmad Abdul Aziz Al-Saud who is chairman of the Eastern Mediterranean Region, International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (EMR-IAPB) and president of the National Committee for Prevention of Blindness in Saudi Arabia. He is also the chairman of Ebsar’s foundation board.
Dr. Akef El-Maghrabi, chairman of Maghrabi Eye and Ear Hospital and deputy chairman of Ebsar’s foundation board; Ibrahim Al-Jomaih, vice chairman and CEO of Al-Jomaih Automotive Company and board member of Ebsar Foundation; Khaled Baashan, GM of Baashan Trading Corp. and board member of Ebsar Foundation; and Muhammad Zamil, president of the Zamil Group and board member of the Ebsar Foundation, are also sponsoring the program.
