Blind children can study the same academic subjects that sighted children do

Abu Dhabi: Braille books will be given to pupils with visual impairment at government and private schools across the UAE to encourage the culture of reading among the blind, the Zayed Higher Organisation for Humanitarian Care and Special Needs (ZHO) announced on Wednesday.

The Blind Printing Press has received around 24 books from the Ministry of Education. The 2014-15 curriculums will be printed in July and August and handed over to schools, teachers, and pupils.

The first batch of curriculums will be available for all pupils from grade 1 to 12.

“We have received around 24 books this year and about 55 books the previous academic year (2013-14) for pupils with visual impairment. The Blind Printing Press has always been committed to providing support and care for special needs individuals, especially visually impaired children. It is an important step to ease their obstacles and provide them with adequate educational opportunities regardless of their disabilities,” Na’ema Al Mansouri, manager of the Blind Printing Press, said.

“Children who are blind need to study the same basic academic subjects that sighted children do, therefore there was an urgent need to enable pupils with vision loss to achieve their full academic, social, and independent potential through improvements to UAE’s education system,” she added.

The Braille Reading Competition was also launched to enable children to gain knowledge and display their social skills.

Since the competition was established in 2006, awareness among the public about visually impaired people and their potential socially or in the workplace has been increased.

In efforts to make the UAE a special needs-friendly country, the UAE Central Bank has also instructed that necessary actions be taken to re-print sets of currency notes featuring Braille characters so that they are readable by the visually impaired.