JEDDAH: A number of visually impaired citizens are expecting candidates to address their problems and make life easier for them after winning the Dec. 12 municipal elections.

A section of these voters have also sought special programs so that they can understand the mechanisms of the elections and get familiar with the programs and platforms of candidates, local media reported Saturday.

There are an estimated 1 million blind and visually impaired people in Saudi Arabia.

“The blind citizens are in urgent need of facilities linked with the services offered by the municipality in order to find their way through without depending on others,” Omar Al-Suhaibani, who is blind, was quoted as saying.

He demanded that the municipality build overpasses in the Rawdah neighborhood of Riyadh and special walking tracks for the blind in public parks.

Al-Suhaibani also said that walking near his house in the neighborhood is very difficult because of potholes.

Sara Masoud, who is a programmer, an artist and author, as well as supervisor of a literary club in Riyadh despite her visual impairment, wants the authorities concerned to raise awareness on the elections among citizens with total and partial blindness as well as other disabilities.

“The needs of the blind people outweigh those of children. I cannot cross the street safely without facing a speeding car,” she said.

Masoud stressed the need to install “talking traffic lights” to serve the blind. “I cannot, for instance, order food in restaurants because they do not provide menus in Braille.”

She also condemned “discrimination” in society, saying: “The authorities provide a white cane to men, but not women.”

Sahar Al-Ghamdi, who is totally blind, said candidates should offer special services to people who are blind or have other disabilities. “Many promises were made, but they remain unfulfilled.”

She stressed the importance of providing the Braille facility at government offices and in restaurants, as well as talking programs in the streets.

According to the National Commission for the Prevention of Blindness, a census published in 2011, the number of visually impaired people globally are 285 million people, of which the proportion of the Middle East amounts six percent to 12 percent.