Arabic Regional Network
Region and Scope
There are 22 countries where Arabic is recognized as official and primary language: Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, UAE, Yemen. Most of these countries fall in the regions of Middle East and North Africa (MENA). However, MENA region also includes few non-Arabic speaking countries such as Isreal and Iran which are not part of DAISY Arabic region.
Regional Context
The Arabic language is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world, with over 400 million speakers across 22 countries. Although there is no accurate number of persons with disabilities in the Arab region. Arabic also carries a rich cultural and literary heritage that spans centuries, from classical poetry and philosophy to modern literature and scientific contributions. Since the language is spoken in so many different countries and regions, the language has several variants. For example, Arabic language spoken in Jordan would have slight differences with Arabic spoken in Egypt. These differences are not just in few words or terms, but also the pronunciation.
Challenges and Opportunities
Despite its importance, it remains one of the underserved languages when it comes to the accessibility of digital materials. Persons with print disabilities face significant barriers to access information and digital materials. Some of these barriers include:
- Lack of accessible content: there is a severe lack of digital content and educational materials in accessible formats.
- Technological limitations: assistive technology, authoring and reading systems either have no or limited support to Arabic script.
- Fragmented efforts: although there have been some efforts across the region to address the limited access to Arabic digital materials, collaboration remains limited.
The DAISY Arabic Network aims to bridge these gaps. Bringing together organizations serving persons with print disabilities to share expertise, exchange knowledge and advocate for equal access to information. Our goal is to ensure that Arabic speaking individuals with print disabilities can access information, education and culture, leaving no one behind.
Activities
The following activities have been identified for action:
- Identifying gaps in support of Arabic language in reading and authoring systems of accessible materials
- Drafting proposals to improve support of Arabic language in reading and authoring systems and capacity building of stake holder organizations.
- Expanding the network’s members to cover the 22 countries of the region.
- To increase number of titles in accessible format in Arabic language.
Steering Group Members
- Michael Johnson, Benetech, USA (DAISY board member)
- Dipendra Manocha, DAISY Consortium
- Yasmine Youssef, ATDO Egypt
- Mohamed Mansouri, Ibsar, Tunisia
DAISY Ambassadors
- Heba Kholeif, Donitna association for the blind (IOM), Egypt
- Mohamed Mansouri, Ibsar, Tunisia
- Mohamed Salem Bouh, ANAM, Mauritania)
DAISY Membership in the Arabic Region
DAISY Consortium has 3 network partners in this region.
Contact the Arabic Region
You can contact us at the following email:
- YYoussef @ daisy dot org
- dmanocha @ daisy dot org