Feature: Palestinian college graduates develop mobile app for the visually impaired

Young female Palestinian Information Technology (IT) engineers have designed android-based applications for smart phones to be used by visually impaired members of society in the Gaza Strip.

The software enables the visually impaired to text through an on-screen tapping board using the Braille language system for the visually impaired.

The existance of a similar application has for long been a wish for many visually impaired people in Gaza and worldwide.

News of the "Braille Board" application was received with great joy.

Forty-year-old visually impaired Dala Taji from the Gaza Strip told Xinhua about her experience using the new application.

"It was quite moving to be able to send my friends for the first time text messages on Facebook and Whatsapp. I can now communicate with everyone on any android system thanks to this application," she said happily.

The application is based on a mobile with six features on a touch-board which includes the Braille letters, numbers, punctuation marks and symbols.

In the Palestinian territories, the visually impaired make up around 14.6 percent of the population.

The Braille system is a tactile writing system used by the visually impaired. It is traditionally designed with embossed paper.

Several information technology experts worldwide have been working to bring this system to mobile phones and computers to allow visually impaired people to communicate via new technologies.

Ghadeer Abu Shaban, 23, from Gaza, is one of the four designers of the mobile application. She said her application allows users to send text messages, type in any smart phone application such as Facebook, Whatsapp, and Wechat.

She added that the idea began a year and a half ago when she and three other colleagues were on the hunt for a good graduation project.

"We wanted to do something which would benefit humanity, and we thought a project like this one would help millions if it sees the light," she said, adding "This application will assimilate visually impaired people into the community and allow them to explore the world of technology."

Abu Shaban said the application takes mere minutes to learn how to use it, and was designed for Arabic-speaking people.

She pointed out that similar applications were previously created, however they were not android-based and did not include Arabic.

The application is for sale and is being marketed locally in the Gaza Strip and internationally via Facebook, said Abu Shaban.

"In Gaza, the application is being sold to centers for the visually impaired," she said. "We use the money earned to develop the project and create new applications to help visually impaired people."

Abu Shaban revealed that she plans to develop a new application to allow the visually impaired to read and write using a smart phone.

According to Abu Shaban, the nine-year-old Israeli blockade of Gaza and the crossings closure impeded the team from travelling abroad to participate in various technological fairs in order to promote their application.

She also said she plans to establish a company dedicated to researching and developing mobile applications providing the best user-experience for visually impaired smartphone-users.

"I hope that substantial IT companies would purchase our application and incorporate it into the mainframe phone system so visually impaired people can get it free of charge," she said. Endit