PROGRESS
A QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER
OF
ASIAN BLIND UNION
JANUARY-MARCH, 2010
EDITOR
Dr. Anil Aneja
PUBLISHED BY
Asian Blind Union
Braille Bhawan, Sector 5
Rohini, Delhi – 110085. India
Phone: +911127054082
Fax: +911127050915
Email: abudelhi@rediffmail.com
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 EDITOR’S NOTE 3
2 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE ABU NEWSLETTER 3
3 A Holistic Action Plan of ABU 3
4 The Cure Lies in Our Hands 3
5 BLIND CHILDREN GET A RAW DEAL IN Education for All (EFA) 3
6 Felicitations to Larry 3
7 Tech Talk 3
Techshare India 2010 Promotes Assistive Technology for People with Disabilities 3
8 Launch of a National Campaign 3
To Ensure the Right to Books for the Blind of India 3
9 WBU News 3
10 INSPIRATION: Fighting for a Better Way to live in Darkness 3
11 GETTING EDUCATED AS A BLIND PERSON IN IRAN 3
1. EDITOR’S NOTE
Dear Readers,
This being the first issue of the year 2010, on behalf of the Asian Blind Union, we take pleasure in extending greetings and best wishes for the present year. Though more than quarter of the year has already passed, the better part of it still remains.
During last three months, the ABU officers have been working hard to prepare a comprehensive plan of action for the year 2010. This plan was presented in the Executive meeting of the Asian Blind Union held in Sana’a, Yemen on 6th-7th March, 2010. Besides the officers and Executive members of the organization, the International Director, Norwegian Association of the Blind and Partially Sighted, Mr. Terje B. Iversen took part in the two day deliberations. The following pages contain details of various proposed events of the ABU along with varied and interesting information.
While much is yet to happen, during past few months we have been receiving updates of an initiative which may well change the accessibility scenario for the visually impaired in the ABU region countries.
When we speak of accessibility in the context of visually impaired, we usually have in view the more traditional sources of information, sources such as books, websites, newspapers and magazines. But the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities defines the term ‘Accessibility’ in a much wider sense. It lays strong stress on all information and communication in the public domain to be accessible to the visually impaired. All channels of information, including entertainment sources must be accessible; that would be true equality.
In some of the developed countries, through legislations and practice, a serious attempt has been made to achieve total equality by trying to make entertainment sources accessible. In Washington, USA for instance, visually impaired persons visiting the theaters are provided with head phones through which they can access an audio commentary describing visual scenes. Similar techniques have been used to make movies accessible to the visually impaired both in USA and United Kingdom. This technique is known as the Audio Description or the A.D. technique. The technology involves creating a separate audio track while recording the audio of the movie, a track which can be accessed by a visually impaired person through headphones while watching a movie. An audio commentary of visual scenes is transmitted through these headphones during the silent moments and song while the movie is being screened. This way, the visually impaired viewer is able to understand the visual scenes and gestures much better without taking any help from his/her sighted companion if such a companion is available.
There are specific laws in countries such as UK and USA which make it compulsory for a specific percentage of all movies and TV programmes to have an audio description track for the visually impaired. As far as the blind and the low vision persons of the developing countries are concerned, they have been at a disadvantage in respect of total accessibility to visual scenes of Television programmes and films. The disadvantage is caused by three factors:
1. As the visually impaired persons in the developing countries often belong to economically weaker sections of society and do not have access even to the basic required facilities, this kind of demand has not been raised by them.
2. The self help organizations of the blind in the ABU region countries are so preoccupied with trying to create resources and support systems including legislative provisions with a view to provide education, vocational training and employment to the visually impaired in their respective countries, that these organizations have not been able to pay attention to other but equally important needs of the visually impaired. It may be pointed out here that in many countries watching television and films is still considered a luxury.
3. The country governments have not cared to pay attention to the finer needs of the visually impaired and have therefore failed to enact any mandatory provisions as far as accessibility to entertainment sources is concerned.
It was more than a year ago, when the Royal National Institute of Blind People undertook a study in India to ascertain whether the visually impaired desired Audio Description in Bollywood (that is Hindi) movies and whether the introduction of this technology would enhance their entertainment options. The response on the part of the visually impaired in favour of introducing this technology was overwhelming.
Prompted by this response, the RNIB started networking with the film producers in India to make their films accessible for the visually impaired by using A.D. technology. Ms. Sonali Rai of RNIB has played an important part in conducting the research study on behalf of RNIB and in networking with the Indian film producers and directors.
These efforts have made with an almost instance success. Thanks to the research and sensitization undertaken by RNIB, UK, a recent major Bollywood hit movie “My Name Is Khan” was made accessible for the visually impaired. The movie was released in UK on 19th February, 2010 carrying an A.D. track for the visually impaired. Seeing the success of this experiment, another film producing company, Eros International not only made their latest movie “Veer” accessible through A.D. but have also expressed a desire to make some of their earlier movies (which are still favourites with Hindi film viewers) accessible through this technology. The supreme however is that while some of the Hindi movies are now accessible to the visually impaired in UK, more than 1% population of India, which is visually impaired is unable to view these movies with Audio Description in India. While nearly 40% of movie halls in UK have the necessary infrastructure to play A.D. track movies, not a single movie hall in India possesses this technology.
This is where the role of the user groups and self help organizations of the visually impaired comes into play. The mandate to demand accessible technologies such as the A.D. is already with us through the UNCRPD. The success of Royal National Institute of Blind People in convincing the Indian movie producers should inspire the visually impaired as well as their organizations in other ABU countries to convince film producers and directors of their respective countries to introduce the A.D. track in their movies. They should network with the respective governments to have suitable legislations enacted to ensure that all cinema halls in every ABU country must have the necessary facilities to screen movies with A.D. track. They should also ensure that such facilities must be made available to the visually impaired without any extra costs to the users.
This goal may seem difficult to attain. But it is not an impossible target. What is required on our part is a strong and unified voice and the courage of our conviction. The UNCRPD has already given us the necessary tools. How effectively can these tools be used to ensure enhanced accessibility for the visually impaired in the entertainment sector totally depends on the self help organizations and on the users themselves in each ABU country. We should thank Royal National Institute of Blind People for making this important beginning in India. Let us resolve to spread the fruits of this initiative in every ABU country.
Dr. Anil Aneja.
Editor.
2. CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE ABU NEWSLETTER
A number of individuals and organizations have been helpful in providing content for this publication; our most sincere gratitude is due to all of them. We would welcome contributions/content in-puts of information, news, a creative piece, technology related information, any success story of a visually impaired person and/or any other information, which you may wish us to carry in this publication.
3. A Holistic Action Plan of ABU
In its Executive Meeting held in Sana’a, Yemen, on 6-7th March, 2010, the Asian Blind Union approved a comprehensive plan of action for the year 2010. Proposed activities in this plan cover all the three sub-regions of ABU as well as important priority areas of developmental work for the visually impaired.
The plan has been prepared keeping in view four focus and strategic areas of the Asian Blind Union. These are: Capacity building and human resource development, strengthening the affiliates, Women empowerment and information dissemination. An overview of these activities is given below.
By way of capacity building, a number of key activities have been proposed which shall take place during 2010. These are:
1. With a view to augment computer skills of the visually impaired in Central Asia, Two training courses in the use of screen readers for teachers of the visually impaired will be conducted in the year 2010. Each of these courses will be of 10 days duration. A total of ten teachers of the visually impaired in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan will be trained.
2. In the Middle East, the focus of the organization will be on strengthening the inclusive/special education human resource. As many as 15 teachers teaching in the inclusive/special schools of Middle East countries will be oriented in the areas of visual impairment and mental retardation. This three day workshop will take place in Jordan.
3. Activities in South Asia will focus on strengthening organizational management and advocacy human resource. Accordingly, a three month programme for training in rehabilitation and management of associations will be held in New Delhi, India. A total of six participants, two each from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will take part in this intensive programme. In addition, a three day advocacy workshop is planned to be held in Karachi, Pakistan in June, 2010. As many as 20 senior officers/active members of self help organizations of the blind in South Asia will be trained in various advocacy strategies, procedures and UNCRPD.
4. ABU also proposes to hold two country specific workshops on UNCRPD in order to sensitize various government officials and disability activists in that particular country. The first of such workshops will be held in Sri Lanka wherein 50 such persons will be sensitized about UNCRPD. Another workshop on UNCRPD will be held in Tajikistan in which more than 20 government officials and disability activists will take part.
Research Projects:
In addition to continuing its ongoing research project on the impact of domestic violence on visually impaired women in Asian countries (started last year and expected to complete this year), the Asian Blind Union will undertake two fresh research projects.
The first of these new research projects is a study on the involvement of women and youth in organizations working with the blind in ABU region countries; and the second would consist of Preparation of pre-Braille -reading readiness kits (40 in number) after proper field trials. It is hoped these measures will strengthen the Inclusive education system in the Middle East countries.
Information Dissemination:
THE ABU Website is now fully operational. The organization would also continue its quarterly newsletter titled “progress”. This year, the ABU Newsletter will also be available in Braille to our readers. Also, attempts will be made to provide the Arabic and Russian translation of the Newsletter
Thus, 2010 appears to be a busy and exciting year for all of us at Asian Blind Union.
4. The Cure Lies in Our Hands
A recent judgment of the Supreme Court of India appears to have opened new opportunities for the visually impaired. A young student Nitin Mantri had dreamt of becoming a Doctor from his early years: not an uncommon dream among the youngsters. What made the dream of Nitin so special was the fact that he was visually impaired. Due to his visual impairment, there were strong chances of his denied admission to a Medical College.
The inspiring stories of blind and low vision doctors are not absent from our memory. One immediately recalls the name of Late Salma Maqbool of Pakistan, who not only was a successful practicing doctor, but was an important leader in the blindness field. There have been some instances of visually impaired doctors in India and in many developed countries. However, such exceptions are often missed while considering the potentials of persons with visual impairment.
Despite knowing that the road may be difficult for him, Nitin persisted with his dream and tried to seek admission in a medical college. He scored much higher percentage of marks than the cut off percentage, yet he was denied admission. He was admitted only after the High Court of Madhya Pradesh intervened.
Social, administrative and political prejudices cannot be easily set aside. His institution as well as the Government of his State appealed in the Supreme Court of India. After 9 months of toil, Nitin obtained the judgment in his favour: “There are no rules to bar a visually impaired student from studying medicine”, the Supreme Court ruled.
The ruling is important not just for Nitin Mantrie but for the entire visual impairment sector. Its significance rests in two respects. Firstly, it has opened new avenues of study and employment for the visually impaired. The Supreme Court of India judgment can be cited as an example by individuals and blindness organizations in other countries to obtain similar facilities in their respective countries. The UNCRPD already advocates the principle of “Reasonable Accommodation”. This principle can help us in opening up new opportunities in the areas of education and employment.
Secondly, the case in reference brings an important message to all of us. That is that given the will and determination, the most difficult doors can also open. So finally it is clear: the cure to our problems lies only with us.
5. BLIND CHILDREN GET A RAW DEAL IN
Education for All (EFA)
Recently, the Education Committee of the Asian Blind Union, through All India Confederation of the Blind has conducted a research study which has brought to the fore the alarming fact that visually impaired children studying in government schools under EFA Scheme, have extremely poor skills of reading, writing and arithmetic. According to Mr. A.K. Mittal, Chair, Education Committee, ABU, and Principal Investigator of the study, “the purpose of the study was to ascertain the levels of efficiency gained by visually impaired children in SSA schools in basic literacy and arithmetic skills with the help of carefully designed and administered tests and to collect other related information. The study, the first of its kind in the country, was undertaken in the backdrop of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD).
The study had a sample of 200 visually impaired students of classes 4 and 5 from Government schools in 10 States under SSA. Classes 4 and 5 were chosen since these constitute the midway point of elementary education and the final stage of primary education in many participating States. The study covered 149 government schools in 39 districts of Bihar, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh along with Gujarat, Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, with an equal number of 20 children from each State. Among the sample, 122 children used Braille and 78 large print for their studies.
The emerging data presented a grim reality about the various tall claims being made regarding the success of inclusive education in the country. The average national marks scored in Braille reading and writing ranged from just 20 to 23%, while in arithmetic the range nationally was 10% to 31% . The position regarding reading and writing large print for children with low vision was no better with marks ranging from 22% to 31%. As is known, Braille and large print are the only means through which blind and low vision children could learn reading and writing and lack of efficiency in these basic tools tends to make these students as bad as being illiterate. As far as individual States are concerned, percentages of marks scored in reading, writing and arithmetic by Braille users ranged from 0 to about 10% in the States of Bihar, Haryana and Kerala. For large print users, percentages of marks in the said areas have ranged from 0 to about 44% in the States of Bihar, Haryana, Rajasthan and Kerala.
The study also brought out the disconcerting fact that there was a general shortage of textbooks in Braille and in large print. The participating schools had hardly any special devices for children with low vision. The study also showed that while there were special teachers for the schools covered, a large number of them were not at all qualified in teaching blind children. The actual time spent by them with visually impaired students was found to be extremely limited.
Two more intriguing facts emerged. In some instances children not classifiable as visually impaired were included in this category—presumably, so that they could receive the financial assistance available for visually impaired children under the Scheme. Further, in some cases, children, though enrolled, did not go to school for prolonged periods, visiting the schools only when their parents were to receive admissible financial assistance. These factors raise serious doubts about the veracity of the large number of visually impaired students shown as being educated under EFA, from time to time in various reports from Government agencies.
In brief, the performance in the basic literacy and arithmetic skills come out as a cause of great concern. The level of skill-development in these core areas has emerged to be at the level of Grade-I or Grade-II at best. All our talk of inclusion and empowerment would have no meaning if urgent steps are not taken to ensure that our visually impaired students can read, write and do arithmetic on their own.
The study concludes by making a number of practical recommendations for addressing the problem and facilitating genuine inclusion.”
6. Felicitations to Larry
We take pleasure in informing you that Larry Campbell, a well known name in the disability sector, has been awarded an honorary doctorate from the Salus University for his contribution at the international level in the area of disability. Currently the President of ICEVI, Larry has played an unforgettable part in promoting education and technology for the visually impaired through his various assignments and professional engagements over a period of more than 35 years. As the International Director of Overbrook School for the Blind, USA, Larry has been responsible for many meaningful and needs based initiatives in Asia and Africa. Apart from being a genuine friend of work for the blind, Larry is a warm-hearted, hospitable and friendly who is always willing to go an extra mile both for the cause and the person. We wish him many more honours in the years to come.
7. Tech Talk
Techshare India 2010 Promotes Assistive
Technology for People with Disabilities
(Abstract from DAISY Planet, edited and modified by the Editor, ABU Newsletter).
Techshare India 2010, held On February 15 - 16 at the India Habitat Center inNew Delhi, India, was devoted to technologies for persons with disabilities. This pan-disability conference was organized by the Royal National Institute of the Blind People (RNIB), BarrierBreak Technologies and, National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP). Techshare is one of India's regular technology events and exhibitions which promote assistive technology for people with disabilities. More than 500 delegates from all over India and from around the world attended This mega event. Approximately 30 exhibitors from different countries and companies displayed a variety of products.
The Techshare exhibition and conference was inaugurated by the Honourable Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment, Mr. Mukul Wasnik, who shared his perspective on the importance of an event like Techshare India 2010, stressing the importance of making the environment inclusive and accessible for people with disabilities. Other speakers included Ms. Shilpi Kapoor, Managing Director, BarrierBreak Technologies, Kevin Carey, Chair ofRNIB, Javed Abidi, Director, National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP), and Dr. P. Anandan, Managing Director – Microsoft Research Lab India. In his speech Carey explained that “a more accessible World” is one of the World Blind Union's (WBU) strategic priorities and stated that disabled people, governments, industry and commerce, now need to work together to make the promises of UNCRPD real, to find solutions to help industry and commerce design better inclusive Information and Communication Technologies, to find ways of getting better adaptive technologies into people's hands, and helping people develop new skills which they need. That is why the World Blind Union asked its Technology committee to find ways of bringing people together to work on finding solutions to the challenge. And that is where the Techshare series of conferences comes in.
Organizations of and for persons with disabilities and individuals with
disabilities were among those who attended and experienced the world of
access technologies.
Techshare Conferences began in London England over a decade ago. It is now a global series of conferences, with India having been the first country to host a Techshare Conference outside of UK.
8. Launch of a National CampaignTo Ensure
the Right to Books for the Blind of India
In line with the spirit of the World Blind Union to press for the inclusion of suitable provisions relating to the copyright concerns of the visually impaired in the proposed WIPO Treaty, the two major national organizations of the blind in India, namely, the National Federation of the Blind and the All India Confederation of the Blind launched a national campaign to ensure the accessibility of all print books to the visually impaired at the same time and at the same cost at which these are available to their sighted counterparts. The campaign was launched on 29th January, 2010 on the eve of the World Book Fair. A declaration and a national appeal was issued by the office bearers of the two organizations in a joint press conference held at the India International Centre, New Delhi, India.
Defining the campaign the statement read: “It is our solemn mandate to provide increasing number of accessible books to the blind at highly subsidized cost on a not-for-profit basis.
Though obvious, it is a little acknowledged fact that while picking up a book to read is an almost involuntary and natural act for any sighted person, the blind and the low vision persons are sadly deprived of this common pleasure. It cannot be denied that millions of visually impaired persons too have the same right to books as others”.
Further, the declaration urged the publishers to release their publications from copyright restrictions so that these may become fully accessible for the visually impaired.
On the opening day of the World Book Fair, that is on 30th January, 2010, the National Federation of the Blind and All India Confederation of the Blind jointly put up a stall at the book fair in order to sensitize the public at large about the accessibility problems of the visually impaired with regard to print materials in the context of copyright restrictions. The volunteers of the two organizations went from stall to stall in the book fair requesting publishers to release their publications from copyright restrictions in favour of the two organizations so that their books can be made available in Braille. More than seventy five publishers responded to this appeal on the first day itself. It is hoped that such campaigns will be undertaken by the self help organizations of the blind in other ABU countries as well so that a large repository of knowledge comes within the reach of the blind and the low vision.
9. WBU News
From the WBU E-bulletin
WORLD BRAILLE CONFERENCE PLANNED FOR 2011:
A World Braille Conference, titled BRAILLE21 is being planned for September 26 to October 2, 2011 by the WBU World Braille Council in partnership with the German Central Library for the Blind.
More information about the conference can be found at:
www.braille21.net
WBU APPOINTS REPRESENTATIVE TO SERVE ON ISO TECHNICAL COMMITTEE:
The WBU has appointed Barbara Martin, Director of Technical Affairs office for European Union with ONCE, as our representative on an ISO (International Standards Organization) Committee dealing with accessibility for persons with disabilities.
The Committee: ISO/TC159 (Ergonomics)/AGAD (Advisory Group for Accessible Design) has as its aims:
1) Coordination and collaboration with organizations of persons with disabilities and the elderly;
2) Coordination and collaboration in ISO (in TC173 and other TCs);
3) Strategy development for AD Standardization.
ISO has the system of 'liaison' to cooperate with other organizations and reflect their opinions on standards. They therefore requested from the WBU the establishment of a 'liaison' between WBU and AGAD. Some of the issues to be addressed include:
1. Using methods of Braille signage in public facilities;
2. Using methods of Braille signage on consumer products;
3. Methods of displaying tactile guide maps;
4. Shape, color, and arrangement of toilet operating equipment and appliances in public rest rooms;
5. Design principles of pictorial symbols for communication support;
6. Accessible meetings;
7. Acoustic signals in public areas.
We sincerely thank Barbara and ONCE for her agreement to represent the WBU on this important committee.
KICKI NORDSTROM APPOINTED TO WORLD BANK GPDD COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE FOR WOMEN WITH DISABILITIES:
Kicki Nordstrom a Past President of the WBU and former Chair of the WBU Women’s Committee was appointed by the International Disability Alliance (IDA) to represent them on the World Bank GPDD (Global Program on Disability & Development) Community of Practice for Women with Disabilities. The Community of Practice, organized by GPDD, brings together experts from a variety of sectors to share information, expertise and best practice in order to develop a body of knowledge related to development issues for women with disabilities. Congratulations and thanks to Kicki on being selected for this work.
10. INSPIRATION: Fighting for a Better Way
to live in Darkness
By Ramya Chamalie Jirasinghe
Manique Gunaratne was coming to terms with the end of an abusive marriage when her Ophthalmologist gave her the prognosis that she would soon lose her eyesight. A search for a cure or for medication to halt the progress of the loss of her sight came to nothing despite having consulted medical specialists both in Sri Lanka and India. Before the end of the following two years, her vision deteriorated rapidly. By 2000 the optician's prognosis had come true.
Retinitis Pigmentosa, the medical term for the cause of Manique's blindness, is an inherited visual condition where the sufferer gradually loses his/her sight normally in young adulthood and mostly in the mid thirties and forties. Manique was just thirty in 2000. While complete blindness could be rare, Manique retained only her ability to distinguish night from day through her visual sensitivity to brightness and its absence. She cannot see any objects: only a dull darkness during the day and complete darkness at night.
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Born in a middleclass Sri Lankan family, Manique received her primary and secondary education at St. Bridget's Convent in Colombo. When she left school, she was trained to become a Secretary and worked in several leading private firms. However when she got married in 1998, her husband requested her to end her career and become a housewife in his ancestral house 50 miles away from Colombo. This request was made despite his life being embroiled in a mire of debts and mortgages, regular unemployment and financial burdens that grew worse over the months. This came as a shocking news to her. When she had met him he had projected his image to her as a man of high social standing, belonging to a family that lived in the local equivalent of the village manor house.
The dowry system still exists in Sri Lanka. It is, however, practiced
sophisticatedly. The dowry may not be openly discussed nor requested for in most middleclass families during wedding plans, but family of the groom normally expects the bride to possess some wealth of her own. In the case of Manique's in-laws and husband, they had hoped that her wealth would assist them to bale themselves out of the financial insolvency that they were fast sinking deeper and deeper into. When the cash that her parents gave her became insufficient to bale out the family from debt, the abuse began. It came first as verbal abuse from the husband and then deteriorated into physical and mental harassment after her mother-in-law came to reside in the house when she was dismissed from her job for financial dishonesty. They threatened divorce if Manique did not give them the necessary financial resources which amounted to millions worth of Rupees.
When Manique couldn't meet the demands the abuse deteriorated into
violence. It ranged from blackmail to isolation in a locked room, first in
the house and then in a shed in the garden, followed by assaults such as pulling her hair and spitting on her. In 1999, unable to bear the
harassment, Manique returned home and began coming to terms with the end of her marriage. The gradual deterioration of her sight began at this time.
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When Manique realized she was soon going to be blind and was going to be living a life of a divorcee in Sri Lankan society, she realized that she needed to build a new set of skills. But she had to convince her own family that, as a person with a disability, she should be allowed to attempt to function as any other individual in her society. Because of their love and protectiveness for her, her parents wanted her to confine herself to her home, relegating herself to a life of a dependent-disabled person that from then one would need to be looked after and cared for by others. Their concerns ranged from worries about the strong stigma associated with disability and with divorce and for her safety.
Through the help of her friends and also by gently convincing her parents that she should not be relegated to her home for the rest of her life; Manique began her journey towards independence and a life as a role model for other disabled people.
She found out that the Council for the Blind in Sri Lanka was running
courses in Braille, in the Scientific Method of Using the white cane and in Basics in IT for the Visually impaired. By the time she was recognized legally as a blind person, she was able to read Braille, use the white cane and use the computer. Most importantly she had acquired a vocational skill: telephone operating. Soon after, she applied and secured a job as a telephone operator at the Employers' Federation of Ceylon. She also joined the Sri Lanka Federation of the Visually Handicapped. As an active member she became personally involved in running courses for other persons with disabilities and became a spokesperson and advocate for them. She also owned her skills of I.T. training for the visually handicapped, management skills as well as presentation skills.
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News of this young woman who had changed the course of life from one of "disability to ability," who was now an activist for persons with disabilities and whose own life was a living example for all that she was advocating spread everywhere. She traveled overseas attending seminars and conventions, received numerous local and international awards.
Today Manique still works at the Employers' Federation of Ceylon. She is one of Sri Lanka's leading rights activists, agitating to create better
opportunities for persons with disabilities. She says there are over 69,000 visually impaired persons in Sri Lanka. "It is," she says, "up to us to prove that the perception that persons with disabilities are dependent is wrong. By doing so we can move from sympathy to empathy and from dependence to independence."
11. GETTING EDUCATED AS A BLIND PERSON IN IRAN
ALIASGHAR ASSADI
About 80 years ago the formal education system for the blind started in Iran when the first school for the blind was established in Tabriz, a city in North West Iran. This school had twenty students studying Physics, Chemistry, Botany, Arithmetic, History, Geography, Agriculture, Sculpture and more.
Founded in 1926 by a German priest, the school shut after the World War II began and all the Germans were fired from Iran.
Another education center was established in Tehran in almost 1949 called Roudaki by the social services organization in Iran and then it was closed after 8 years based on an agreement between this organization and an international institution namely "Lines".
The process of educating the blind was assigned to this international center which was quite a failure.
In Isfahan, a school for the blind girls was founded by a charitable English lady in 1951. Of course the most important schools for the blind in Iran were founded almost simultaneously in Tehran in 1964. One of them formerly named Reza Pahlavi and now called Mohebi founded by the government, is located in western Tehran and now is the greatest school for the blind in Iran managed as a boarding school, accepting the blind students from all parts of the country for enrolment in elementary, secondary and high school and lately they have been benefited from the pre-university courses too.
Another school in center parts of Tehran named Khazaeli School founded by Dr. Mohammad Khazaeli in his own realty.
He was one of the most renowned contemporary persons who truly gave the blind many benefits by his own resistance against social discriminations.
Some of his successes are as follows:
the first blind getting a PHD, knowing English, Farsi, Arabic and French, making a well-known Iranian school for the blind in Tehran, translating some books into Persian, The first blind senator in 1960's, a professor in Tehran University in addition to teaching the blind, and many more.
His activities now have become a pattern for other blind persons so that now we have many graduate blind people here in different fields with different positions such as teachers, lawyers, university professors, computer experts, great sportsmen having gold medals worldwide and in Paralympics etc.
In the year 1968 when the government formed the office of special students in the education ministry, it assigned the responsibility of education to this group of students including the blind or visually impaired people, deaf and the mobility impaired students.
Even up to now the government has not defined disability in a way that the people having more than one kind of disability can be benefited from being categorized.
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Now almost in all the Iran's counties there is at least a school for the blind.
Right now there are 28 schools for the girls and 29 for the boys that are visually impaired people.
The Method of Education in Iran:
What is important in this case is that from the very beginning of special education system for the blind, the method of education was
exclusive; meaning that they had to be educated in special classes in mainstream schools.
This method could ensure their special needs while integrating them into the whole society.
But by the explosive rise of population that also affected the increase in the number of disabled students, the need to make special schools for them arose and this was the formal beginning of exclusive method of education.
In this era the students began using available means in their studies started from using Braille materials that were undoubtedly inconsiderable at first.
They used to write with stylus before the first generation of Perkins typewriter entered the land.
Also audio tapes were common and still are.
The most well equipped recording studio for the blind located in Khazaeli School for the blind was lost in a terrible fire in summer 2005 caused by the negligence in fixing the electric cables.
The SEO (Special education Organization) was reconstructed in 1990 by the Islamic government in a new model.
After the Parliament ratified the affiliation of the special education organization within the education ministry in 1992, the thinking of developing the inclusive method of education was suddenly enhanced and consequently this method was introduced as a formal method to the teachers and educators through different conferences and training courses.
The official statistics of the year 2000-01 has estimated the number of integrated children in mainstream schools to be about 3494 pupils, which is 4.9 percent of the whole population of the pupils in special schools.
Considering the number of students that are studying in mainstream schools but not registered officially will increase this percentage.
In total, 5,788 teachers, 3,505 regular and special school staff, and 340 special education administrators and officials have been trained to know the inclusive special education system countrywide.
Higher education at universities:
The number of university students among the visually impaired people is estimated to be around 4000 persons among the population of about 200000 totally blind individuals.
When a blind or low-vision student enters a university in Iran, he/she has to pass the national university entrance exam called Konkur.
The exam is held by Sanjesh Organization.
This organization tries to do the best it can by preparing the readers for test takers. Every applicant must check the appropriate option while filling the detailed university forms to show the type of disability in the entrance exam and must attach a document signed by one of the welfare officers responsible for rehabilitation nationally to be eligible to use a reader during the test.
The problems in this case are as follows:
1. The extra time given to the disabled students is not sufficient at all.
This extra time is up to one hour in addition to the normal time for the test that is almost 3 to 3.5 hours.
In some cases, even this is not given to some students according to their complaints.
2. In many cases, the readers are not experienced enough to read the questions for the students correctly.
Lately, Sanjesh Organization has started converting some of the Konkur questions into Braille. These include general questions such as English, Arabic and Persian literature.
When a student passes these barriers and enters a university, there are some other problems. The universities often don't have a specific schedule for the test takers in the test dates and that's why the students have to either ask their close friends or relatives for help or wait and wait in the test date until someone can be found to act as a reader. The only positive point in this case is that many of the university staff show empathy in such issues. Another problem for the blind students is having the necessary books recorded for their university studies. The students try to solve such an issue by the following methods:
1. Some of them use the limited facilities that some universities give them as a student work. In this case, the volunteers from among the sighted students are paid by the university to record the books for the blind students on cassettes while receiving a little money.
2. Some others ask for help from their relatives and friends or pay someone from their own resources to get their needed books on cassettes or Audio CDs.
3. Some students luckily can find a few of the books they need between the Braille or audio sources of Roudaki Center in Tehran working as the only available center active in recording or brailing the books for the visually impaired people living all over Iran. The majors in which the blind students graduate are, to an extent, not much in demand in the job market. The more commonly studied subjects by the visually impaired are: psychology, law, linguistic and languages, theology, literature, economics, history, geography, sociology, management etc.
Nevertheless, the blind are successful in these limited opportunities as teachers, lawyers, university professors and even more.