Special report from Qatar

Ability visits the Mada Centre (Qatar Assistive Technology Center) in Doha, which has ambitions to become a model for assistive technology for Arabic speakers

An estimated 26m disabled Arabic speakers stand to gain from an ambitious project to boost access to ICT in the Gulf state of Qatar.

The desert country, rich in gas and oil and with a population of just 1.7m, is set on becoming a regional hub for assistive technology.

The Qatar government is funding the development of Arabic language software, distributing free systems to disabled residents and raising the level of technology skills among disability professionals.

Accessibility is one of the main planks of Qatar’s national plan for ICT which calls for much easier access to the government’s 160 online services by disabled people.

And last year ictQatar, the body responsible for regulating ICT in the country, published an e-accessibility policy.

Under the policy public sector organisations are expected to make kiosks that provide online information and services accessible. Government owned banks, for example, are installing ATMs that can be used by people with vision, hearing and physical impairments.

Digital media companies in Qatar have been encouraged to increase the accessibility of their content by offering accessible ebooks, online information and captioning for video programming.

Assistive ICT was little known in the country until Qatar signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Disabled Persons in 2009. But within a year ictQatar had set up an assistive technology facility called the Mada Centre (Qatar Assistive Technology Center) tasked with providing the country with accessible technology.

The Mada Centre (mada means horizon in Arabic) occupies two floors of ictQatar’s 22-storey headquarters building in Doha. The light, airy offices not only house Mada’s 20 or so staff, many of whom come from abroad, but also act as a resource and training centre.

The organisation was founded as a public private partnership, so it wouldn’t get bogged down in the intense decision making of government agencies. The chief executives of QTel, the country’s telecommunications provider, Vodafone, Microsoft and the Qatar National Bank sit on Mada’s board.

The organisation acts as a one stop shop for assistive technology. Its’ experts carry out assessments of disabled people, provide them with technology and also support teachers and medical staff who work with them.

When Ability visited, small family groups were clustered around the computers and assistive devices that line the walls of the main hall; trying out the equipment and undergoing assessments.

Upstairs, in another part of the building special needs teachers were being instructed by deputy director David Banes in how mind maps and flowcharts can be used to help students with learning difficulties.

It is an international effort. The training course has been designed by an Irish organisation called Enable Ireland, while Mada has forged links with similar organisations in Singapore and India.

“We are committed to reshaping assistive technology in the region, we are not just serving residents of Qatar,” said Banes.

With 280m native Arabic speakers in the world and an estimated 26m to 30m of them who are disabled, a sizeable group of people stand to gain from Mada’s work.

The centre also has the job of promoting awareness of accessible IT more widely in Qatar. For example, web experts are auditing public sector websites and helping owners to up their game.

Workers from the centre have set up a series of ‘mini-Madas’ in schools, hospitals, care homes and rehabilitation facilities. Visiting them regularly to train staff and carry out assessments.

In the centre itself some 200 people per year attend training courses.

“Working with ictQatar has meant that we can play an active role in ensuring that the country’s ICT infrastructure is accessible to people with disabilities,” said Ahmed Habib, head of communications awareness and outreach.

Mada has played an important role in bringing down the cost of communications for disabled people in Qatar. QTel and Vodafone have cut the cost of services to disabled people by 50% in a project called Connected.

In a move to provide assistive technology based on Arab language and customs, Mada is also funding the localisation of assistive products developed by foreign companies.

“One gaping hole is the lack of Arab speaking solutions,” explained Habib. “We said we would financially and logistically support the small manufacturers to fill in what was missing for Arab users.

“Mada is a vendor neutral organization that allows people with disabilities to make choices based on expert advice, as opposed to solely relying on information provided to them by companies.

“In the absence of that the use of AT becomes dependent on marketing materials from companies. That makes it very difficult for people to make the right decisions.”

The first agreement involved Crick Software, whose Arabic version of its Clicker 5 literacy support software is now being distributed to Qatari schools.

Other UK companies that are talking to Mada include Claro Software, Dolphin, Sage, Sensory Solutions, Therapy Box, Widget and the University of Southampton.

The firms are being offered funds to produce Arabic versions of their software in return for providing free licences to Qatari institutions.

Localisation is not a trivial matter. Apart from translating menus, software designers must ensure text and symbols read right to left. There are also cultural issues to be resolved.

This January, Mada will be spreading its net wider still by talking to American assistive technology companies at the ATIA conference in Chicago.

Three gaps in applications for Arabic speakers that Mada is particularly keen to fill are optical character recognition, speech recognition software and word prediction.

Arabic is a particularly difficult language to cater for in these applications, said Mada’s head of research Eril Zetterstrom. One reason is that that the same character can change its sound depending on its position in a word.

But it is crucial that new Arabic technology is developed, said Habib. “Without it, people in the region will continue to face tremendous challenges in connecting to the world of ICT, and opening a world of opportunities to them.”

Parents are the primary caregivers in family-minded Qatar, so raising their awareness of assistive technology is vital. Mada has run advertising campaigns
and puts on social events aimed at kids including summer camps, games nights and it plans to organise a series of digital creation courses on applications such as Photoshop and Twitter.

“It is important to persuade people that technology is not an obtuse, uninspiring part of our lives,” said Habib. “Technology is not just a serious thing.” 

On the road with the Mada team

A broad grin slowly breaks across Hiba’s face as the young girl bursts a balloon on the large flat screen monitor in front of her.

Reward enough for the three professionals who have been busily trying to engage her attention for the past few minutes.

Hiba is in the assistive technology room of Shafallah (Centre for Special Needs) special school on the outskirts of Doha. As a new pupil at Shafallah, her motor skills, concentration and ability to reason are being assessed with a view to finding the right technology for her.

With an imax 3D cinema, sensory room and swimming pool, Shafallah must be one of the best equipped schools in the world. Not surprisingly, places on the 600-strong school roll are much in demand.

The school is convinced that assistive technology has an important role to play in the curriculum: it facilitates communication by students, increases their self-confidence and social integration and allows them to express their needs.

Shafallah has set up the technology room so students and staff can try out the latest systems. And the institution is also adapting technology for use by Arabic speakers; staff are creating a depository of Arabic voices for use on text to speech systems.

On the Clicker 5 project the school devised extra symbols more appropriate for Arab speakers. Shafallah is also working with Widget to create new symbols for the company’s software.

I am accompanying Aejaz Zahid, head of Mada’s assessment services on his rounds. Next stop after Shafallah is a visit to talk to a cheerful 61-year-old man who had a stroke four months ago.

He still has difficulty using his right hand but wants to get back to work. The question is ‘what is the right solution?’

He is pretty adept with his left hand, so Zahid suggests trying a keyguard and taping a splint to his right hand so that he can use it more effectively to hit the keys.

The man’s physician looks doubtful, but he does agree to try it.

Microsoft and Vodafone join accessibility drive

Mada’s sponsors are also involved in a number of projects with the centre.

Microsoft is working on one called Imkaan (Arabic for possibility). Under the programme, the company has supplied memory sticks which are used to provide disabled people with information about accessibility features on Microsoft products.

“The idea is to ensure that digital learning is accessible as possible,” explains Asad Ahmed, Microsoft’s business development manager for Qatar.

The company is also planning to run an upgrade clinic in the Mada Centre with free operating software for people whose systems need updating.

At the Hamad bin Medical Centre, disabled older people have been given access to an internet lab and an X-Box media centre as part of the refurbishment of a lounge.

Children on ventilators at the hospital have also been supplied with laptops. In March, webcams and LCD screens will be attached to their beds so that they can keep in touch with their families.

But the most ambitious effort involves a children’s day care centre at the Rumeilah hospital. There, staff are using X-Box Kinect systems to enable children with cerebral palsy to interact with computer games. Staff plan to develop their own material for the Microsoft games software.

Vodafone is aiding ICT Qatar in framing new regulations that will require employers to allow disabled employees to work at home.

The mobile phone company is also studying technologies that could be used to monitor patients’ medical conditions such as diabetes remotely. Vodafone acknowledges that it will have to win over health professionals to the idea.

“There is resistance to new technologies, particularly those that are complicated,” says Dana Haidan, Vodafone’s head of corporate responsibility.

Customers too will benefit from efforts to promote accessibility in the company’s phone shops. For example, older people will be offered easy-to-use handsets. The new-style accessible shop will be tested in the Mada Centre itself.

Vodafone is also mulling over the idea of launching an award for accessibility designed to encourage researchers to develop products in this area.

But the company doesn’t want to be too hasty. “We are focussing on doing one thing at a time and doing it well,” says Haidan.