Barbara Walters chats with Forward Syria
Swaying between art and seduction
Discussing monetary policy with the man in charge
Where the earth screams in horror
09/09/2010 - Issue 43
Talal Heidar
A distinguished medical engineer who graduated in 2007. He is currently holding four positions simultaneously including two at Mujtahed and Mahjoub Hospitals. His invention of a teaching aid for the visually impaired, however, is the highlight of his achievements
Could you tell us more about your invention?
It is the graduation project for my Masters degree. I believe it to be a transcendental transition in the methodology of teaching Braille for people with disabilities, modernizing and digitizing it.
How does it work?
The main idea is connecting the teacher and the students to a an electronic hub, an input node for the teacher, and output nodes for students. The teacher types on a normal keyboard any character or word, and it is outputted as Braille on special pads for the visually impaired students to feel–read.
Using this method the teacher will not have to pass by the students one by one to teach the Braille characters, he just types into his keyboard from his position; this will significantly reduce the period for teaching Braille to around three weeks, as teachers will not be obliged to pass by the students individually and trace their fingers on the Braille characters on the notebook.
Furthermore, the teacher will utilize a normal keyboard to teach Braille meaning that he will not even need to know Braille; thus any normal teacher can teach Braille to the visually impaired.
Has your invention been released yet?
No, the copyright and trademark process was/is really difficult here; it was not as easy as I thought it would be, almost made me reluctant to even consider inventing anymore.
Nothing was facilitated and no help was provided, and the overlooking committee from the copyrights protection and invention committee at the Ministry of Economics was incompetent and inept as well as lacking a clear methodology; they had me show them the blueprints and schematics when they were not even supposed to ask me to, for the reason that doing so will–did divulge the secrets of my invention to them.
When do you expect the copyright will be issued?
I’m not really sure, it is up to the committee; this has been going on for a year and a half and until now I haven’t been granted anything. Because of the delay they caused me the invention did not participate in international conventions for equipment for people with disabilities, such as the one held in Germany and another in the Nederland earlier this year.
What advice do you give to young Syrians who might have the same abilities yet fear going through the loophole of local laws?
Just persevere and never acquiesce. Eventually you’ll reach your goal. I had many offers to register my project outside of Syria, but I wanted this invention to hold the name of my country.
