Imagine learning to speak a foreign language. It is never easy, but with patience and exposure to native speakers it is a relatively common achievement. Learning to read and write, and that to a level that allows one to teach it, takes a great deal more effort, talent and focus. It is far more difficult but not impossible.
Now imagine yourself blind.
That bit is easy; just close your eyes. Immediately, about 80 percent of all information your brain receives daily is no longer available to you, including the books and visual aids that most of us take for granted as part of the learning process. Suddenly, what is just very difficult takes a quantum leap to nigh impossible.
Then imagine, having had a complex operation to restore sight, losing it again. It is enough to break most people, but Shahir Al-Beshry is definitely not “most people.”
That setback concerned Shahir not one whit. He wanted to be an English teacher and with a quiet, understated determination he set about the task from his early days at school.
Shahir is a disarmingly shy, a gently spoken person who likes to rest a hand on the arm of the person he speaks with to establish personal contact. He also has a quiet but well developed sense of humor and sees irony in the humdrum of daily life, especially when people talk rather loudly at him rather than to him or, assuming that he is incapable of understanding, to his companion.
Aged 25, he has already completed his first degree in English. Currently he is six weeks into a course at the British Council in Jeddah studying hard to raise his standard of English to study abroad in the UK, America or Australia.
The youngest of seven children and easily able to make the choice to opt for the idle life and be cared for, Shahir was having none of it. “I will not accept just sitting at home doing nothing,” he reflected. “I just don’t agree with that.”
“I’m normal. I just can’t see,” he said. It was no plea; it was a simple statement of fact. He confided that other people, particularly when first they met him, had difficulty understanding that. “They talk to Mahmoud,” he said, indicating toward his constant companion, “and tend not to ask me questions.” Mahmoud Tahir is Shahir’s friend, guide and assistant. A gently spoken open-faced young man he assists his friend to navigate the obstacles of daily life. He worked with Shahir all through university and now at home as well. “We worked and studied together all the time,” he said. “He learned everything by listening and speaking; he is very smart,” he added unnecessarily, a view confirmed by Shahir’s current British Council teacher Ismaeel Angus who regards him as one of the best students in his class.
Though paid as an assistant, the daily teamwork has developed far beyond the “hired carer” stage between Shahir and Mahmoud, and they bounce jokes off each other like brothers. “I often find people talking to me asking if ‘he’ (Shahir) would like this or that. It often takes a while for them to include him in the conversation,” said Mahmoud.
His family, he said, had been completely behind his ambitions. Through school in Makkah, where he first learned Arabic and English Braille, and then university, he had their full moral and financial support. The King Abdul Aziz University had been equally supportive, as had the Saudi government through its agencies supplying equipment and a stipend to assist his learning. At home, Shahir uses a Braille typewriter that he can switch from Arabic to English and stay fully abreast of written work.
“He’s always working,” confided Mahmoud. “Shahir is always reading and when on holiday from university he finds a course to join. That’s why he is on this one, he didn’t want to sit at home.”
The course Shahir joined was the Pre-Intermediate English course run as part of the British Council’s teaching program in Jeddah. He applied, was entry tested and accepted in what seems perfectly normal procedure. In fact it was the “swan syndrome” at work — all smooth on the surface but with considerable activity out of sight. “He was our first blind student and the first for the British Council in Saudi Arabia. We had no experience of dealing with students with Shahir’s special requirements,” said Jim O’Neill. “However, he applied and we set a specific time so that we could meet him and give undivided attention to the interview.”
The British Council’s worldwide reach, comprising hundreds of schools and thousands of teachers, produced the necessary experience from the vast and shared pool of information on their intranet. “Somewhere out there was someone who had the experience. What we had to do was take that extra step to give Shahir equal access to our facilities and teaching. It took a little time and some logistics, but it all came together nicely.”
The intranet located a specialist supplier in Jordan of the regional Braille version — and according to O’Neill a more relevant version than from the UK — of the course books. These were duly acquired and arrived in time for Shahir to begin the course in mid-February. Braille books by their nature are much bigger than printed books. Page numbers in each version do not coincide, but asking Mahmoud to sit in the class with Shahir and locate pages quickly in order not to slow up lessons easily rectified that.
The British Council intranet also provided experience from other teachers on how best to manage a classroom and teaching practice. Duly included in the teaching plans, all was set for Shahir to join.
“We were not quite sure what to expect, especially as Shahir missed a few classes, but we should not have worried,” said O’Neill. “It worked out fine.” Shahir’s course teacher said that with Mahmoud assisting, the “learning team” has a positive advantage in class. Shahir fully involves himself in class discussions and tests.
The reaction of other students is one of perfect acceptance of the pair’s inclusion as something completely normal. “He’s one of the best in class actually,” said Angus. “Mahmoud helps out with activities and handouts and reads to him (as yet the council has no Braille printer). They work as a team. Shahir demonstrates a tremendous feat of memory in his learning.” He commented that Shahir makes few mistakes and always contributes to the class. “It’s altogether a very positive experience for everyone,” added O’Neill. Word of Shahir’s acceptance in the standard curriculum and classes at the British Council spread rapidly. “We have had four or five enquiries from the women’s section here and several from Riyadh already,” he said.
“If anyone thought there was a barrier because they were blind, they are mistaken. There isn’t,” said O’Neill. Shahir’s ambition at the end of the long period of study and application is to be an English teacher. “I learned English to get a good job and socialize — to make it in society,” he said.
He paused for a moment, then confidentially resting his hand on my arm he almost whispered: “I want to teach people with special needs.”
