The Assistive Technology Center in Qatar (Mada) won the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) award for Arabic digital content for the year 2023, for the Unified Arabic Braille portal project, as the first initiative in the world to provide eight-point Braille tables in Arabic.
A statement issued by the center stated that the honoring of the award came during the work of the Arab Forum for Sustainable Development for the year 2023, which was held in Beirut from 14 to 16 March under the slogan “Solutions and Action”.
The center’s participation in the award stems from its role in contributing to improving the ecosystem for persons with disabilities, to make it accessible to information and communication technology, to achieve their independence, enhance their capabilities, enrich their capabilities, improve their quality of life and empower them in various aspects of their lives within the framework of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. /Mada/ In 2020, for the first time in the Arab world, the unified Arabic Braille portal project, which provides a comprehensive and integrated reference for the blind in the Arab world, in order to enhance its role as a leading center in innovation in the field of access to information and communication technology in the Arabic language in the region and the world, and within the framework of Mada program for innovation, as the portal aims to promote Arabic digital content in line with the latest international trends and best practices that are consistent with the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. The Unified Arabic Braille portal is the first of its kind in the world of innovation and unique in the Arab world. As the first computerized Arabic Braille table with eight points was developed to support Braille abbreviations in the fields of mathematics and science, and to take advantage of the multiple advantages of this table, KCTA It or read the single symbol in one cell and support some computer symbols.
This table is an important and significant addition and a quantum leap that will help users of Braille screens and speaking computer programs in a smoother use of the Braille method. The new tables were published in 2021 and the entire library was offered as an open source resource for use by screen reader programs. It is also available in Arabic and accessible, enabling everyone to use and benefit from it, especially blind, blind, deaf, experts, teachers, students, software developers, assistive technology manufacturers and others who wish. learning Braille system.
Given the importance of involving people with disabilities in supporting and developing solutions that would make a quantum leap in their lives, Mada Center is keen to involve people with visual disabilities in the decision-making process through focus and evaluation sessions that it holds during the research and development process.
