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Training Ethiopia’s blind people in ICTs

Blindness in Ethiopia results from a wide range of natural and man-made factors, and is also linked to underdevelopment and armed conflict. Neglect, discrimination and lack of awareness means blind people have little access to education, employment, information and other forms of social participation. Information and communication technologies are, however, beginning to overcome these barriers.

The Adaptive Technology Centre for the Blind (ATCB) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, was established in 2000, introducing access to information for the blind community. The ATCB has two main activities – computer training supported with electronically generated voice, and computerised Braille production. Over the past five years the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) have been working with the ATCB, providing funding, equipment and institutional support for its programme.

The computer training includes:

developing skills in word processing and Outlook Express email programmes
using software that reads information from the screen aloud, trouble-shooting, and introducing to the features of different applications
training for teachers of blind children in basic computer skills and advising them on how to assist their pupils.

The ATCB also produces electronically processed Braille transcriptions, enabling Braille readers across the country to obtain a supply of locally embossed textbooks, references and other documents.

The main achievement for the more than 150 graduates from the ATCB is that they are able to use computers with complete independence. Participants have included sight-impaired students enrolled in Bachelors and Masters Degrees at Addis Ababa University, and civil servants who have undergone training to facilitate their use of computers at work and for research.

Advocacy forms a part of the centre’s activities and as a result of this and its training activities, public and government awareness of the potential, rights and merits of sight-impaired people has been raised such that:

The provision of equipment for computerised Braille production has encouraged the government to look at the possibility of producing national textbooks in Braille.
The Ethiopian government has introduced a policy to supply all schools with computers and the ATCB example has shown that blind schools should not be left out of this initiative, particularly as teachers of blind students can receive training from the centre.

Source(s):
‘Breaking barriers: building access for disabled people’, May 2005, id21 insights #55 Full document.

id21 Research Highlight: 2 June 2005

Further Information:
Tamru Belay
Adaptive Technology Centre for the Blind
PO Box 80046
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia

Tel: +251 (0)9 223327
Contact the contributor: atcb@ethionet.et

Adaptive Technology Centre for the Blind, Ethiopia

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