DOHA - Two Qatari scientists have achieved a milestone by inventing a unique language tool for teaching blind people in Qatar and other parts of the world.
Qatar's Al Noor Institute for the Blind (NIB) unveiled 'the Braille Teacher', a simple learning tool for families to use for teaching blind person how to read and write Braille, at a ceremony held at Sharq Spa and Village this week.
The Braille Teacher was 'invented' by Dr Saif bin Ali Al Hajari, NIB's Supervisor, and Mohammed Hashem Al Sherrif from the same institute, and is registered with the Qatar's Ministry of Economy and Commerce.
The new progranme is part of the institute's efforts to offer the blind with a cheaper tool to help both the blind people and others with visual impairment for learning the Braille system.
Al Hajari said the new system was developed after many years of hard work. This single unit device has many advantages because of its easy to use methodology. "When producing the Braille Teacher, we took into consideration using healthy and secure materials so that blind persons of all ages can benefit from it," he said. Hayat Nazar, NIB's Director was also present.
He added that since most blind people are globally classified among the poor, the tool was offered at QR100 around ($30). It is now available in Arabic and English, but plans are afoot to develop the tool in other languages including Chinese, Urdu and German.
Al Hajari said that the institute has produced 5,000 copies and has urged charities and individuals to buy and donated it to people around the world. The inventors donated proceeds from the sale to Al Noor Institute.
Another feature of The Braille teacher is that blind students can learn how to read and write through playing.
The Braille Teacher has a base which represents the body of the tool and consists of four zones: (A) the board of letters; the number zones; (C) the application zone; and (D) the Braille line.
The Braille line, placed at the bottom of the base, guarantees that the blind persons learn symbols, letters, abbreviations, expressions and numbers. The tool can contribute to teaching people with multiple disabilities.
© The Peninsula 2008
