THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED LEARNS ICT AT KIR FOUNDATION
“I have been visually impaired since birth. As a visually impaired person, I have faced several challenges including discrimination and delays in my education. In other places I’ve been to, they don’t allow us (visually impaired) to touch the computer systems but here at KIR Foundation, we were allowed to touch and work with the computer system and when we don’t understand,
they take time to explain to us so that we can understand”. – Chidindu Ruth Nwa-Jesus
Chidindu Ruth Nwa-Jesus is a twenty-two year old visually impaired young lady. She loves to read, operate computers and dance. As a visually impaired individual, Chidindu as a visually impaired youth has faced several challenges including discrimination and delays in her education. In 2015, Chidindu and her younger sister, Esther Nwa-Jesus, who is also visually impaired, visited the KIR Foundation Inclusive Resource and Rehabilitation Centre. The sisters spoke about their desire to learn computer appreciation which would strengthen their capacity and dreams of going to university.
In their discussion with the KIR Foundation team, they spoke about friends, who are blind and lacked braille slates; and also had the desire to learn ICT. They asked if KIR Foundation could organize ICT training for persons with visual impairment. Regrettably, the KIR Foundation team had to tell them that we lacked the resources to carry out the trainings. Furthermore, the sisters and their friends received braille slates from KIR Foundation to aid their academic studies.
Subsequently, KIR Foundation wrote to Small World International Women’s Organization for Charity for a donation of laptops with Job Access with Speech (JAWS) for the visually impaired. As a result of the partnership with Small World, KIR Foundation started the ICT training for four visually impaired beneficiaries at the KIR Foundation Inclusive Resource and Rehabilitation Centre on the 17th of July 2017.
“I want to thank Small World for funding this training. Right now, I can now use the computer especially word processing. ICT training will help me improve my ICT skills and communicate better with others in Society”. – Chidindu Ruth Nwa-Jesus, Beneficiary of the ICT Training for Visually Impaired Persons (ViPs)
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