Technology: Hope of the Sighted and Light of the Blind

• Al Farsi: Free software breaks up the monopoly imposed by companies over screen readers for the blind
• Al Wahaibi: We call upon all organizations and individuals to support associations helping persons with special needs.
• Al Thaiabi: We are strongly determined to depend on ourselves and to be productive members of society.

In cooperation with Al Noor Association for the Blind, the Information Technology Authority (ITA) recently organized a training course for a number of the Association's members in order to teach them how to use the NVDA Program, an open-source software program. NVDA, an acronym for NonVisual Desktop Access, provides feedback via synthetic speech and Braille, and is a free and open source screen reader for the Microsoft Windows operating system. The two-week course, which concluded last week, was held at the Association's headquarters in Al Khuwair and tackled the topic of using this localized program in order to allow trainees to use computers easily, independently and without the need for help from others. 

Objectives of the Course

Mr. Dhahi Bilaish Al Mashifari, Director of the Electronic Applications and eServices Department at ITA, said: “Technology contributes to bridge the gap between disabled persons and the digital world. The ITA is keen on carrying out the directives of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said – may God protect him – through the national strategy of e.oman, to include all segments of society without exception.” Mr. Al Mashifari further added that the Authority has launched an initiative concerned with supporting people with special needs in order to enable them to benefit from all that is new in the field of information and communication technology and to have a share in the achievements of the blessed renaissance.

Noor Ali Al Hinai, an Application Developer at ITA, said: “This course comes as a continuation to the national strategy for supporting people with special needs, which falls under the e.oman Strategy. This course targeted a number of employees from both the public and private sectors. Such employees were seven members of Al Noor Association for the Blind who have the basics of using the computer, in order to train them to use the NVDA Program, which would have a positive impact on developing not only their professional performance but also their private life. This localized software makes it easier for them to use computers and surf the internet without assistance from others.” 

About the Program

Yaqoob Yousuf Al Farsi, Manager of the Free Software Project at ITA, offered the following: “Free open-source software (FOSS) currently competes with commercial software with the same level of efficiency. Developers of FOSS aim to make it available for all. The importance of this type of software is clearly manifested in its contribution to facilitating the life of people and easily enabling them to become more educated and electronically developed.” Mr. Al Farsi also added: “The ITA is seeking to promote and encourage the use of free software in the Sultanate. The cooperation between ITA and the Al Noor Association for the Blind stems from the Authority's belief that the blind have long suffered from the monopoly imposed by companies over screen readers. Therefore, it is our duty to do our best to enable all citizens an opportunity to have an equal share of the technologies which are available. This will also contribute to enabling them to work in both public and private sectors, to surf the web and have access to huge amounts of knowledge.”

Better Future

Ali Abdullah Al Amri and Sheikha Mahmoud Al Jassasiah have graduated from the College of Arts, Sultan Qaboos University. Although neither of them majored in the field of information technology or received formal training in such software, they have been satisfied with their own destiny. Such satisfaction has increased their own determination, which we notice in both of them, not to let their disabilities prevent them from aspiring to achieve a better future not only for both of them, but also for all those who are blind. They joined the Al Noor Association for the Blind and were entrusted with the task of providing training like this course. Through their discussions with those interested in such programs, they found a suitable training program and taught seven members of the Association how to use the NVDA Program.

Speaking about his role, Ali Abdullah Al Amri said: “My role was to train the course participants in using the NVDA Program, which was developed by NV Access. The localization of this software has achieved a quantum leap in the life of Arab blind people since it liberates them from the dominance and monopoly of the companies that produce highly expensive commercial screen readers. On the first day of the course, an introductory lecture on the Program was delivered in order to explain its interface to participants. Following a practical demonstration, information was given about the importance of its interface for blind persons, as it enables them to control the program and adjust its settings according to their own needs. There was great interaction by the trainees who showed their full willingness to learn how to use the Program. The seven participant trainees comprised of individuals working in different government and private entities.”

Speaking about her role, Sheikha Al Jassasiah said: “My role was to assist the trainer in explaining the applications of the Program and how to use it, as well as answering the questions of the trainees regarding the difficulties they may face when using the Program.” 

Messages

The course participants and some officials of Al Noor Association for the Blind addressed some important messages to the concerned authorities. Mr. Said Saif Al Thaiabi, Deputy Chairman of Al Noor Association for the Blind, spoke about the importance of such courses in developing the blind’s capabilities to use computers and thanked ITA for its leading role in supporting people with special needs. Al Thaiabi also said:  “We addressed an open invitation to all senior officials in both government and private entities in the Sultanate, calling upon them to pay due attention to persons with special needs and to exert more effort for enabling them to benefit from the opportunities available through modern technologies, so as to keep pace with their peers and upgrade their skills to reach the desired level.” He further added: “We have a genuine and strong desire to depend on our own selves and be productive and useful to people around us. Thus, we call upon all authorities to provide all types of support and devices that can assist us in carrying out our job and life duties.”

Juma’a Abdullah Al Wahaibi, Chairman of the Information Committee at the Association, said: “We extend our thanks to ITA, which sponsors the national strategy for supporting people with special needs, for its generous support that has greatly enabled the blind to surf the internet, websites and forums and to communicate with the external world, through providing necessary software and computers and holding training courses for people with special needs in order to help them to use such computers easily.”

Sheikha Al Jassasiah addressed a message to government and private organizations, in which she said: “We hope that governmental and private organizations will play a greater role in this field to provide more jobs for people with special needs, support the national strategies concerned with these categories, or contribute to holding specialized courses like this one provided by ITA, on which we greatly rely to develop the capabilities of the blind in the field of IT. We also hope that such organizations will exert efforts similar to those exerted by ITA.”

Ali Al Amri emphasizes the aspect of raising awareness about this category that includes the blind and others, in order to increase the support, such as devices and services, provided to this segment of society to keep pace with the latest advances in various fields and to play an active role in the country, through their integration in different jobs in both the public and private sectors, thus becoming productive individuals who can help themselves and their country.

In his speech that he delivered on behalf of his fellows who participated in the course, Mr. Ahmed Jamil Al Harrasi, one of the trainees, thanked Al Noor Association for the Blind for its efforts in organizing this course in cooperation with ITA. He said: “Thanks to God and to the efforts of the trainers and those in charge of organizing the course, we benefited from this course in which we learnt how to use the NVDA program. In addition, this course has played a vital role in developing our capabilities to use the computer, a matter which will help us to carry out our job duties more efficiently.” He further added, “We thank all those in charge of the national strategy for supporting people with special needs and call upon everybody to play a clear role in supporting and adopting such similar national strategies.”

In application of the National Strategy for Free and Open-source Software and out of its belief in the important role it plays to serve people with special needs and confront the monopoly imposed by some companies, the ITA presented copies of the NVDA Program to the Al Noor Association for the Blind in order to distribute them to its branches in different governorates of the Sultanate, with a view of benefiting the largest possible number of the Association members through the use of the program.