The Reporter (Addis Ababa)
Yelibenwork Ayele
22 December 2007
Addis Ababa — The blind student sat by a desk, her fingers flying away on a keyboard connected to a central processing unit which was connected to an embosser but no monitor.
And, a Microsoft Sam or Mitchell spoke out the sound of keys she depressed on the board. To let the blind know that the typed letter is in upper cases, the speech sound changes pitch.
The speech synthesizer reads text displayed on monitor. Therefore, what sighted people see on the monitor, the blind hear. The software, Job Access with Speech (JOS), is a screen reader for the blind. It reads text from the screen but it does not tell the computer user what to do.
The embosser swallows thick paper with grinding sound and when it spits it out on the other side the paper is embossed with brail characters.
Dr Tamru Ewnetu, executive director of Adaptive Technology Center for the Blind (ATCB), who founded the organization in 2000 with the motto: "I do not have sight. But I have vision," is himself a visually impaired man who thought this technology could help many in Ethiopia.
Tamru lost his sight when he was ten years old to a hand grenade he was playing with.
Being blind usually deprives a person of privacy. "If I have a personal letter to read or write while communicating with a sighted person, I have to share it with a sighted person whom I call upon to help. This had always irritated me. The new adaptive technology can do away with this problem."
It takes about seven minutes on the manual brail to write one page. The speed is subject to the physical condition of the writer. It is a very laborious job and fatigue may slow down the rate. Another disadvantage is that the manual brail can produce text only on one side of a page.
But the computerized brail can emboss text on both sides of a paper. It embosses eight pages a minute. Therefore, a manually produced brail text book is twice as bulky as a computer-embossed book. When a brail book is produced for college students manually, the semester ends before the book production is completed.
Currently, ATCB is working with the Ministry of Education, Addis Ababa Education Bureau and other governmental and non-governmental organizations to make all books available in brail.
Blind students have been using tape records in class rooms but it has not been always easy. "You have to get permission from the professor first. Some instructors do not want to have their lectures recorded. And if a professor gives us permission one day that does not mean we can record his lectures always from that day on. A professor may say, 'Yes you can tape record' today and 'No, ...' tomorrow. Another problem was that tape recorders with good built-in mikes were not available. Or if they were, we could not afford to buy them."
Medium of instruction in the AAU is English, and sign language for the deaf. Though sign language has not been practiced to help those who can not hear, at least it is incorporated in the university's internal regulation. But no such provision has been made for blind students
A student remembers a certain university teacher who said, "I advise blind students not to join this department."
"The Addis Ababa University has a brail embosser but it is not using it," a blind student in the graduate program complained.
In spite of all the disadvantages attending visual impairment, some of the blind have been able to perform as well as their sighted counterparts and become professionals serving in different organizations.
The blind may not be able to do reading assignments and meet deadlines. They depend on the sighted at schools to read books in ink print. Brail books that are available in the country are not found in sufficient quantity and quality.
The brail is a unique identity of the blind who are attached not only to the sense of hearing, but also touching. "When I read brail, the information is quickly stored in my mind. Brail has great advantages. A blind person can enjoy reading brail under the blanket, "Dr. Tamru says.
"We covered the whole nation with over 200,000 copies of brail books in three years. Producing the brail books manually, it takes about one month to finish one book. But our center produces about 600 books a day," he adds.
After he went to Canada, Dr. Tamru had the opportunity to use the adaptive technology and do his job independently.
"When I returned from Canada eight years ago, I shared this vision with government officials. I told them that I was able to read ink print. Everybody thought I had regained sight. When this technology was introduced, nobody believed in it. It seemed pure fantasy.
So far, the center has trained twenty blind people to use the computer at Pioneer Collegiate for the Blind, a technical and vocational education training (TVET) program within the ATCB, where Dr. Tamru has set up an alternative program for the blind.
There are numerous students who drop out of universities because of lack of books in brail. Young men and women who stand by roadsides and squares selling lottery tickets to pedestrians were once in high school or college.
Teachers expect blind students to do as well as sighted students without considering their disadvantages. The blind men and women who sell lottery are now admitted to the ATCB. Once they finish the training, they have the chance of getting jobs.
"I will hire half of them as teachers, brail machine operators, website designers and sound engineers at my own center.
"Currently, the center is offering training to visually impaired students in word processing, Excel, internet browsing, website designing and sound engineering. "We teach them how to edit sound and establish their own studio. Civics, English and Entrepreneurship are included in our curriculum, using the same syllabi prepared by the government."
There is a great demand in Ethiopia for sound engineers. The blind, Dr Tamru says, have their sense of hearing honed by constant use without the aid or distracting effects of sight. So, sound engineering, he believes, is the best practice for them, and they can organize themselves in groups to establish their own studio.
The center gives training in mobility orientation, moving inside a building and using public transportation. "We have a rehabilitating officer to teach them independent living skills. When they leave this center, they will have known how to cook, make themselves presentable to employers and prepare their own resumés."
Up to now, the center used to provide English brail only. "But, because of demand from clients as well as the interest and plan of the center, now we are going to provide brail in all Ethiopian languages using a program called Ethiopic Speech Synthesizer (ESS)."
Dr Tamru is optimistic about the future. "I hear that ICT students would like to work with the blind community. And the university has the skill and the financial potential to work with us. The problem might be lack of good management and coordination."
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