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Student creates writing system for the visually impaired

Shared by Ana Duarte on 2018-06-18 11:42

About the solution

“It’s my first year in a school that takes part in a project that integrates students with visual impairments into public schools. We have three students, and from daily interactions with them I was very curious and had a lot of questions. What letters they use, and how they communicate with others. I was amazed by the size of their large books. This motivated me to learn more about their world and search for answers", the young girl explained.

Talah’s solution differs from Braille because it requires smaller spacing when printing due to the use of diacritics being placed above the letters instead of writing it as a completely new and separate letter, as is the case with Braille. This new system follows a pattern that helps save time and effort, so it’s easier to learn and faster to memorize. The diacritical marks have different geometrical shapes from the letters’ shapes, and the geometrical shapes are written in small forms above the letters, in contrast to braille, and the marks are written as new letters.

“The Arabic alphabet consists of 28 letters. Sets of nine-quadrant-grids are used to represent the different letters. They are divided into three grids, which are used recurrently with the only difference being the absence or presence of one or two dots within the shapes. The letters are divided into three groups, and the nine basic shapes are used in all three, with different uses of dots each time,” she expressed.

The inventor has been working on this project for two years and she hopes that it can help people from all over the world. She already applied for a patent and is has plans to publish her work.

“Then, I’ll work on publishing this writing system to spread it and help people with visual impairments. I definitely want to apply the structure of the writing system to more languages that may or may not include diacritics to help it expand”, Talah said.

The student won 3rd place at Intel ISEF 2018 in Pennsylvania, USA, in May 2018.

Abualnaja’s project led her to win third place at the Intel ISEF 2018 in Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh in May.

Adapted from: https://bit.ly/2sGkeE0

This solution shall not include mention to the use of drugs, chemicals or biologicals (including food); invasive devices; offensive, commercial or inherently dangerous content. This solution was not medically validated. Proceed with caution! If you have any doubts, please consult with a health professional.

DISCLAIMER: This story was written by someone who is not the author of the solution, therefore please be advised that, although it was written with the utmost respect for the innovation and the innovator, there can be some incorrect statements. If you find any errors please contact the patient Innovation team via info@patient-innovation.com

About the author

Talah F. Abualnaja, born in Saudi Arabia, in 2004, was a middle school student when she developed, in 2018, a writing system for the visually impaired. She was inspired by some of her classmates, who were struggling.

Comments (4)

  • DakotaEverard Fri, 06/22/2018 - 16:06

    Thanks for sharing! Amazing solution. Creation of this writing system is really importan and helpful for people. The most I impressed with this sttatement "Talah’s solution differs from Braille because it requires smaller spacing when printing due to the use of diacritics being placed above the letters instead of writing it as a completely new and separate letter, as is the case with Braille". Education is the most powerful tool for everyone. To develop writing skills student can use free blogs, infromation provided custom writing services. Writing, like many things in life, demands effort to be applied in sufficient force and duration in order to be successful. During your life, you’ll very likely be assigned this kind of paper. Thats why I see the importance of this solution

  • Ana DuarteDakotaEverard Mon, 04/01/2019 - 19:25

    Hi Dakota,

    We are really glad you enjoyed this story. Yes, education is indeed the most powerful tool for everyone ;)

  • Ankur Jrm Fri, 09/14/2018 - 11:26

    Download this latest new deigned file explorer app,this is comes with new option and features,update your window http://fileexplorerwindows.com people easily to saved file or documents and share music,images,application and any data with out copy paste.

  • Tiffany Miles Mon, 11/05/2018 - 12:52

    Great article inspiring to create something incredible. When you work on something for a long time, it cannot but attract attention! such a project is definitely worth everyone's attention! I also want to share my work ( https://speedypaper.app/ )

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