Born totally blind as the first child for a poor couple in Amman Jordan in 1973, Zuhair's birth broke his poor mother's heart! With few resources and scarce knowledge about blindness, Zuhair's parents did not know what to do. To them, the joy and pride brought about by a new born first child was forever destroyed, and for them, an eternal journey into the unknown began.
"My mother wasn't sure what to do with me", Zuhair tells. "She had a lot of questions such as, what is he going to do when he grows up? Is he going to be able to take care of himself and his parents? Is he ever going to have a normal life just like everyone else?"
Zuhair's birth, however, was the start of a very interesting life, one which is full of adventures, happiness, sadness, laughter and tears. Not only did he grow up to be a normal person, but Zuhair's accomplishments touched the lives of many people around the world, blind and sighted alike.
Zuhair's childhood was, to say the least, unusually normal. He did not let his disability prevent him from doing the things that children did back then. "We lived in a poor part of Amman. I remember there were a bunch of us, my parents and my siblings, living in a two bedroom house. We would lay some matrices on the floor at night and sleep next to each other (there were eight of us kids), and during the day, we would play with the other kids in the street. It was like a jungle out there -- you had to fend for yourself. If you appeared week, the other kids would bully you and you will be stigmatized and ostracized forever.
Being blind, I recognized my disadvantage early on and sought to minimize the problems it would cause me. I would run with the other kids, play hide and seek, and do things just like they do so as not to appear different. I had no cane, no mobility aids, just my sense of direction and my knowledge of the layout of the neighborhood. If anyone messed with me, I'd get back at them, even if they run away and hide. I had a good memory which stored everything that happened to me, and when pay back time came, I was quite generous!"
In 1979, Zuhair joined the Alnoor Institute for the Blind, the then only school for the blind in Jordan, where he completed his elementary and junior high education. "It was an interesting period. We were given Braille books with which to study, and that's about it. They never taught us daily living skills, mobility, nothing, it was just Braille and the curriculum of the Ministry Of Education." After completing ninth grade, Zuhair was sent to the local public high school to study with other sighted kids as was commonly done with graduates of the institute at the time.
Ever since childhood, Zuhair had a lot of ambitions and set his sights very high. "At the school for the blind, we used to play and frolic as little children, and we also used to talk about what life would be like for us when we grow up. I remember saying to my friends that I wanted to do something big. I wanted to be an engineer, a computer programmer. I remember how some of the kids used to laugh at me, telling me that blind people couldn't be engineers or computer programmers. I remember once how I got mad at them and went and asked one of my teachers, who himself was blind, whether what they were telling me was true. To this day, I still remember the diplomatic manner in which he replied to me. He did not want to break my heart and discourage me, but at the same time he did not want to get my hopes up too high. He basically told me that I shouldn’t worry about this for now and that I should concentrate on my studies
” Upon graduation from the school for the blind, Zuhair found out that what his friends used to tell him was not very far from the truth, at least as far as his society was concerned. When he joined the local high school, Zuhair was told that he couldn’t study math and science because he was blind. “I remember going to the ministry of education and arguing with the district director for our area who threw me out of his office. Blind people, as far as he was concerned, were lucky to be let into school, let alone be taught math and science
” In 1990, and after a long struggle, Zuhair headed for the United States at the age of 17 to pursue his dream of learning computers. He finished his senior year of high school at Chelmsford High in Chelmsford Massachusetts, where he took three years of math and science in one punishing year. “I used to wake up at six o’clock, get dressed, go to school, come back, eat dinner and hit the books until at least twelve or one AM. On week ends, while kids went out and did fun things, I’d sit home and study. I don’t think I ever studied in my life as I studied that year. I was determined, I had a goal, and I was dead set on achieving it!”
Zuhair briefly went back to Jordan after that year where he tried to obtain funding to continue his college education. Unfortunately, no funding could be secured, and he was left only with an offer from a colleague which he met in Massachusetts. The gentleman in question took up a job in Ft. Lauderdale in Florida as the director of the lighthouse for the blind, and he offered to pay Zuhair’s tuition and fees if Zuhair volunteered a few hours teaching Braille to the lighthouse’s clients. With nothing in sight, Zuhair headed back to the United States in May of 1991 with $1000.00 in his pocket, a return ticket in his hand, and a lot of determination in his heart.
Zuhair started working for the Lighthouse upon his arrival, teaching Braille, then, after having quickly learned computer and speech technology, replaced the computer instructor and started teaching computer skills to the Lighthouse’s blind and visually impaired patrons. What started out as a few hours a week developed into a full time job with no pay. “After a few months, it was obvious that the guy wasn’t going to pay me. I was putting in sixteen hour days and working week ends, but each and every time I inquired about when I could start school, I was rebuffed with one excuse or another. This continued until one day, when I was too sick to go to work, I was physically attacked by him. I knew that I had to do something. I left that same day, and not knowing where to go, I headed for the nearest mosque where I stayed for a few weeks. Not knowing what was next for me, and with kidney stones making their debut appearance in my life, everyone who saw me had only one advice for me, and that is to go home. Where it not for the intervention of some wonderful people in the National Federation of the Blind, I would have gone home, as I had nowhere else to go!”
Despite his calamity, Zuhair started school at Florida Atlantic University in early 1993, with the board of directors of the lighthouse paying for his tuition only for that semester. “I knew I was ok for the spring semester, but I had no idea what was to happen after that”.
In the summer of 1993, Zuhair won a $2,500 scholarship from the NFB, after being selected as one of the best 26 blind students in the United States. “I never saw the money, because by the time it was dispersed, my fall tuition was due. I had the NFB send the check directly to the school, and I was left with a $900 balance to pay!”
While in college, Zuhair used a combination of hard work and belt tightening to get him through. “I used to eat on $20 a month. I’d buy four quarters of chicken, a bag of potatoes and frozen vegetables. Every night it was frozen vegetables and potatoes except for Friday, when I used to celebrate and cook one of the four chicken quarters. Needless to say I was pretty thin at the time, but it didn’t matter, because I was doing what I wanted to do, and that is to study and learn about computers!”
In 1994, Zuhair moved to Colorado where he obtained a job at the Colorado Center for the Blind. He taught computers and communication skills, serving as both an instructor and a role model to blind American would be college students. “I fell in love with Colorado on the first day I got there. I knew this was the place I wanted to call home, and call it home I did. After finishing the summer with the CCB, I was offered a job with a small company which customized and sold computers for people who are blind. This company was Beyond Sight, and it is one of the largest resellers of adaptive technology in the United States. My work at Beyond Sight exposed me to all kinds of hardware, software and other adaptive technology devices
which made the lives of blind people easier. Having that knowledge, as well as what I was learning in school about mainstream computer systems prepared me for an exciting career!” In 1997, Zuhair left Beyond Sight and worked for six months at Teletech, an outsourced customer service provider for large businesses, such as Internet providers, computer manufacturers, etc. “I wanted to leave the adaptive technology sector for a while and work in the mainstream market. I helped GTE (now known as Verizon) customers over the phone to configure their computers to connect to the Internet and troubleshoot their connectivity issues, and no one ever knew that I was blind.”
Zuhair then went on to join IBM where he worked for IBM global services for a couple of years supporting the Lucent Technologies project. In 1998, Zuhair formally launched ZM Consulting, where he put the combination of his knowledge of mainstream market systems and his knowledge of adaptive technology to work helping other blind and visually impaired persons. “My focus was the business market. Often times someone will get a job, and their employer has no idea how to accommodate them. My role would be to go in, understand the company’s systems, recommend the technology that will work for the employee, install and customize it, learn the job and teach it to the blind or visually impaired employee in a manner consistent with screen readers”. With this extremely scarce skill, Zuhair helped many blind and visually impaired Americans start, maintain and keep their jobs, pay their taxes, and live as productive members of their society.
In early 2001, Zuhair went in pursuit of yet another dream, one which was dormant in the back of his mind for a long time. “I have come to appreciate how much difference technology makes in the lives of people who are blind and visually impaired. With a talking computer, one can browse the Internet, communicate via email, conduct research and write and compile documents. With a scanner, a blind person can read printed material, not needing to rely on a sighted person to do that work any longer. I remembered those I went to school with in Jordan, some of whom were smarter than I am, and wondered what they would do if they had access to that technology!”
Zuhair’s task was to make the technology he used for years in the United States available to his compatriots. Working with Dolphin and other European companies, Zuhair managed to release the first true combined screen reader and magnifier in Arabic, Supernova, thus breaking the technology barrier which stood in the way of Arabic speaking blind persons for years. “Though it was a financial disaster for me, I am proudest of this achievement. When I look back at it, I know that I have achieved my dream of having left my mark on the world around me, and knowing that I have helped so many people excel and be the best they can be.”
Zuhair returned to the United States on January first 2004, where he took up the position of Vice President of Marketing for Dolphin Computer Access USA, a division of Dolphin Computer LTD of Worcester England, the makers of Hal and Supernova. In 2008, Zuhair started working for the Washington Department of Services for the Blind, an agency of the government of the state of Washington, doing what he did as a consultant in previous years, namely employing technology to help blind and visually impaired persons find, start, retain and keep jobs. “it is my passion, and after all these years, I still love being able to go to bed at night knowing that I have made a difference in someone’s life”.
Zuhair, who uses a white cane to travel, lives by himself in an apartment in Vancouver Washington across the Columbia River from Portland Oregon in the north western United States. In addition to his work, he spends a lot of time working on civil rights issues, especially those having to do with the status of Arabs and Muslims in the US. “After September 11”, Zuhair says, “things became difficult for those of us who come from an eastern background or who are Muslims. It was therefore critical for us to speak up, advocate for ourselves and educate other Americans about us and our religion”. He made several media appearances designed to educate American TV viewers, and challenged and continues to challenge the US government over its unfair treatment of Arabs and Muslims.
In his spare time, Zuhair likes to read, write, play the Ood, listen to music, surf the Internet, keep up with current affairs, explore other cultures and their cuisines, socialize with friends and travel. “My travels have taken me to over 20 countries. Each country I visit and each culture I interact with teaches me a lot of new things, and makes me appreciate who I am and my place in this great wide world”. Although he has never personally been to Qatar, Zuhair had lots of good things to say about it.
“Anyone who watches Aljazeera and the extraordinary work it has done in providing objective and unbiased coverage to today’s news, as well as the remarkable work it has done in documenting Arab history over the past 60 years cannot but appreciate its impact on our age and our future. It takes an educated people and a courageous government to sustain such a wealth of knowledge, considering the pressures put upon them to close it down. A free press and an unwavering commitment to education are the building blocks for a civilization, and I am glad that those building blocks are being laid down in your wonderful country, which I hope to one day have the honor and privilege of visiting”.
When asked about what advice he has for other blind persons, Zuhair said: “don’t let anyone tell you what you can or cannot do – the only limits you have are those you place on yourself. In my experience, there are two things a blind person cannot yet do; drive a car and fly an airplane. You can do anything you want if you set your mind to it. Do not be afraid to dream, but be prepared to work very hard to make those dreams come true. As Thomas Edison, the man who invented the light bulb once said, “genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration””.
To contact Zuhair:
Email: zuhair@accesstojobs.com
Blog: http://blog.accesstojobs.com/
Zuhair recommends you to visit the following websites: