Blind and visually impaired users called for greater efforts to increase accessibility of digital media and for more research and development efforts. At the Arab region’s first technology summit for people who are blind or visually impaired, the community said that public and private sector organisations need to do more to make their websites fully accessible to people with a disabilities.

The meeting was organised by Mada, the Qatar Assistive Technology Centre, at the Four Seasons Hotel in Doha.

Blind and visually impaired people heard from the leading developers of technology from across the world about their current and planned solutions, and shared their thoughts on priorities for the future.

They said that the importance of choice in technology is critical to the successful use of technology by blind people and every effort to increase the range of technology available is welcomed.

They said that further work on Arabic Braille and open source text to speech is required by researchers. According to them Inaccessible e-learning is limiting opportunities for learning for the disabled people.

The technology companies reiterated their support for the community, offering to make training and internal support materials available for use to people in Qatar through the Mada, and expressed their commitment to return to Qatar for further engagement in the fall of 2014.

Meanwhile, Awsaj Academy organised a workshop which showed parents how technologies from, Mada, help people with special needs.

A team of technology specialists from Mada presented the fifth training session of the year.

Mada specialists explained to workshop participants the difficulties people with special needs face while using information and communications technology.

ictQatar set up Mada, a non-profit organisation, in 2010 to help individuals with special needs use information and communications technology such as computers, tablets, phones and televisions.

Through Mada, people with learning, visual, hearing, and physical disabilities including dyslexia, can use information computer technology without barriers.

SOURCE: Peninsula Qatar