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A group of Bahrain-based individuals has completed their Braille training with Friendship Society for the Blind and will be honoured during a ceremony staged at the group’s premises in Isa Town, marking World Braille Day on January 4.
The candidates included not just visually impaired learners but also able-sighted teachers, nodding to the platform’s ongoing efforts towards building an inclusive community. They will receive their certificates on January 10.
Braille is a tactile representation of alphabetic and numerical symbols using six dots to represent each letter and number, and even musical, mathematical and scientific symbols. Named after its inventor, Louis Braille, it is used by blind and partially sighted people. World Braille Day is observed to raise awareness of the importance of Braille as a means of communication.
“We have at least one training session every year, which runs for two months, and more depending on the requests we receive,” Friendship Society for the Blind general manager Ali Haji told GulfWeekly.
“Our Braille training this year was attended by around 17 candidates comprising not just visually impaired individuals but also teachers who wanted to equip themselves with the knowledge. The candidates were as young as 10 years going up to as high as 40 years. This is part of the many events that we conduct all year round,” he added.
Mr Haji, who has been volunteering with the society for the last 44 years, highlighted the diverse activities that the society organises, from sporting events to training sessions for corporates on how to have inclusive workspaces for the visually impaired.
“We have conducted inclusivity training workshops at various schools and hospitals, as well as with the Bahrain Police and Gulf Air,” noted the teacher, who previously worked at the Education Ministry.
In 1980, he started teaching at Al Noor School for the blind, now Saudi Bahraini Institute for the Blind, located in Isa Town. While there, he developed math textbooks in Braille. Engaging with the students inspired him to do more for the visually impaired community. He then joined the team comprising blind teachers and students that laid the foundations of the Friendship Society for the Blind a year later. Currently, the society has about 280 members.
Since then, he has worked at the society in various capacities. Another major initiative that the philanthropist led was to introduce sports specifically designed for blind athletes to Bahrain, like goalball and showdown – he is the founder of blind sports at the Bahrain Sports Federation for Disabilities.
“We train players and organise different programmes for the society’s members,” he added.
A weeklong sports event is set to be staged at the society from January 17 and will feature indoor games like chess and dominoes, as well as goalball and showdown. The event is open to all visually impaired individuals.
Speaking about the upcoming programme, the group’s public relations and media head Abdul Aziz Al Amri encouraged maximum participation, commending the society’s various initiatives and highlighting how they have benefited him personally.
Abdul Aziz, who was born blind, has been in charge of the society’s media relations for the last two years. However, he has been part of the group since he was five years old.
“I studied at the society’s kindergarten for blind children where we learned reading and writing, as well as how to move around and be self-dependent,” said the Bachelor’s degree holder specialising in history and sociology.
The 27-year-old revealed that the society is working on creating content focused on shedding light on Bahrain’s most prominent personalities in the visually impaired community.
“I have beautiful memories from my time here and now hope to pay it forward as part of the society,” he added.
For more information or to participate in the sports event, call Abdul Aziz on 33717920.
