Eight months ago, a number of blind and visually impaired teachers in Uganda had the privilege of a touch typing training during Oysters & Pearls – Uganda sponsored annual technology camp.
The results are now remarkable!
Touch typing is an idea that each finger has its own location on the keyboard. It eliminates the need to look at the keyboard, hence, it is one of the most important and useful skills blind and visually impaired persons need.
Lawrence Apil, a blind teacher at St. Hellen’s Primary School in Mbarara, is among those who benefitted from the training. Before the experience, Lawrence spent time working on his laptop, and had to get the help of sighted teachers to assure him that his spelling and punctuation were correct.
“I no longer need to give my typed work to a colleague to help me correct misspelled words. It
A great number of blind and visually impaired learners and teachers in Uganda lack access to assistive technology to aid their learning and teaching, respectively. Lawrence suggests that organizations supporting the blind and visually impaired should do more than just advocate for their rights, but empower them with enough skills and gadgets, like O&P-UG is doing, to make them equitably compete with their sighted counterparts in school and in the job market.
Some people think skills such as touch typing offers more than just keyboardination and accuracy to a blind and visually impaired person.
Before the touch-typing session, Jennifer Akwero, a blind teacher at Ngetta Girls’ School in Lira, thought all she could do was make notes on her computer and go to class to teach. Not anymore! Jenifer believes that her career scope has widened after the training.
“I can work as a transcriber or typist if I want,” Jennifer said, referring to the speed at which she types now.
Denish Komakech, Program Director at Oyster & Pearls-Uganda, thinks touch-typing also helps speed up one’s thinking. Before the training, Denish divided his attention between typing and thinking and pressing the correct button. But now ideas just flow freely through his fingertips, and he types a minimum of 50 words per minute, confident that each finger he moves, will land instinctively or exactly where it should.
“All I do is let my thoughts glide without worrying about the mechanics of producing letters and finding where they are located,” he said.
