Latest / The Eko Lens Podcast / From Tragedy to Advocacy: Alyas on Blindness, Human Rights, and Building a More Accessible World
Transcript
- speaker-0: Welcome to the Echo Lens, the podcast where we view assistive technology through the Eyes of Lift Experience. I'm your host, Kenisha, and every episode we explore how dignity, design, and innovation intersect to empower blind and low vision communities. We're not just reviewing tech, we're reframing it. So this is a space for truth telling, for honoring the voices that often go unheard, and for challenging the industry to do better. So whether you're a developer, a user, or someone who simply believes in equity, you're in the right place. This is the Echo Lens. Let's take a closer look. And welcome back, everyone. This week we have Alias, and they are such an amazing person that I came across on social media. They are a human rights activist whose passion is really to help people. And he lives with a visual impairment. I'll let him tell a little bit of his story, but he completed his higher education in Canada. So you received your first bachelor's in sociology from the University of British Columbia, second bachelor's degree in teacher education, and you're located in Canada, which is really cool. So I'm super excited that I found you. Your story is very, very Amazing. You are an author to a amazing book called Turning Impossibility into Reality, A Journey Beyond Limits. And it talks about your story of losing your sight and cultural adjustments and financial difficulties and all of these different things that you've endured on your journey. So thanks and thanks for being here today. speaker-1: Thank you, Kinesha, for having me and truly it's an honor and a privilege to be here and to talk to the Brian community and also ⁓ well everyone in general. So yes, I am a a Canadian and was born in Afghanistan and I came to Canada almost I can say twenty years ago to do my undergrad education and to do my undergrad degree. speaker-0: Well, we're definitely excited. I'm about to move to Canada. Things keep up over here like they are, but speaker-1: Welcome, welcome. We are very happy to have you guys. speaker-0: Yes, yes. Okay, well, can you tell us a little bit about your journey and your connection to the blind or low vision community? speaker-1: I yes, given this that I am myself a visually impaired and a blind person, I am connected with ⁓ low vision and blind community here in Ottawa, in Ontario and generally in Canada. So either through employment or mentorship, ⁓ I have been able to play roles, different roles to support in any way I could and ⁓ in any way I am able to. And also the support that I have received from blind community. again it was pertaining employment or mentorship. So yeah, ⁓ I have been connected in in with with ⁓ multiple levels and blind community and we have been working again to also one thing that we really share the common ground is the accessibility. How to make sure that we have an accessible society and how we can make sure that everything is accessible for us. So yeah, ⁓ I have I have a good relations with blind community. speaker-0: Yeah. And tell us a little bit about your personal journey. When did you lose your sight? speaker-1: So it goes back to my childhood days. So I was at the age of seven when I lost my eyesight or b ⁓ when I became blind and I didn't become blind through the you know, whatever. My situation ⁓ was blindness ⁓ was due to a grenade ⁓ landed in my home f I mean my my family home in Kabul, in the capital of Afghanistan. where I'm originally from. So it was it happened in in a couple of hours and I didn't know the morning of that day that I would live with blindness permanently. So that was one afternoon and this happened and the grenade landed in my family home because it was the time where civil war continued in Afghanistan, ⁓ Mujahideen groups in came in power. Kabul itself was divided into several sections within the Mujahideen groups in ⁓ and yeah, I ⁓ became blind and after that I tried to receive medical support and operations and some I could not because of the situation, the war situation. ⁓ that everybody was leaving Afghanistan, doctors, physicians, hospitals were being shut down. So I was not able to ⁓ get exactly what I required at that time. And as a result, my blindness turned to be ⁓ permanent. So and then we moved to Pakistan ⁓ a year after. and then I also received some education there and before we moved. to another province within the Afghanistan and from Kabul and to another province. So yeah, it was a very difficult situation and something that I can't even describe how difficult it was. But it was difficult and it was challenging. speaker-0: Well, I can't imagine. And this happening in the middle of a war, essentially, correct? Right? And Kabul. We we talked about in our pre conversation a little bit and I was I was I was looking the history up and looking at this and thinking like this I mean, this genocidal stuff is still going on to this day, right? ⁓ my gosh. It's just speaker-1: Horrible. speaker-0: And we think and we think that it won't happen, right, to us. And then we I I get put in space with conversations with amazing folks like yourself, right? That that I get connected to and I'm seeing, but we can't deny that it's happening because it happened to you. speaker-1: Exactly. Absolutely. And like me, there are so many people Kinesia that have been affected heavily ⁓ by war. ⁓ either it's the ⁓ was that is displacement, disability, telling. Unfortunately that side of the world has never been I cannot say has never been, but it was at least in my age, I have I did not witness ⁓ or at least my generation didn't see peace in that region. Before the nineteen fifths or you know, before that Afghanistan was peaceful and a lot of Americans and Canadians ⁓ travel to Afghanistan and I read the books and it gives me good perspective from those times or those days. But nowadays in my generation, ⁓ we didn't see peace not only in Afghanistan but in that side of the world. speaker-0: So that's so much to have on your shoulders as you're going in, right? And then yet you still prevailed and you you know, you went to college and you got all of your degrees and you wrote a book and and you started a non profit. Tell us a little bit about your nonprofit work. speaker-1: So Akinesha when I lost my ⁓ eyesight, I never lost my hope and that's why my last name is Umid, and Umid means hope in Persian. Because I never thought what I do not have. I always thought and I still think and I will be thinking that what I have and what I can do with what I have. So when this happened, obviously I started to receive education and building connections and learning more about myself and learning more about the society, learning more about the world and all that. Because I'm sure all ⁓ blind folks out there will s feel the ⁓ will share this feeling that blindness or disability, in my opinion at least, it gives you an opportunity to think who you are. And it gives you an opportunity to discover your skills, your hidden skills. So to me, that blindness is a turning point in my life. And I have learned a lot from my disability, from my challenges. I believe that we learn from our challenges a lot versus when we are privileged. So ⁓ at the age of ⁓ fifteen, eighteen, nineteen Between fifteen to twenty I learned about non profit world, about non profit organizations, their active roles, what it what they can do to a society and how people could be benefited by these ⁓ local slash international organizations, specifically when it comes to nonprofit world. So I started thinking about and I started working. So I joined an organization when we returned ⁓ from Afghanistan or moved back to moved back from Pakistan to Afghanistan with a organization called CRS and it stands for Catholic relief services. I was working as a translator, English to Farsi and Farsi to English. And later I joined another international organization called Humanity and Inclusion, which at the time used to be called Handicap International. And ⁓ these ⁓ places gave me good perspective and really taught me ⁓ that what nonprofit does. So and later I joined the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission as a human rights trainer. And I did ⁓ did all of these things at a very young age. You know, I was even not twenty one. But bottom line I wanted to show to the society, to the people, to the people that who d didn't or do not believe disability, that disability is ⁓ it could could be overcome and could be ⁓ accommodated ⁓ we can display our sk skills and stuff if we are given the opportunities if the society is accessible. So yeah, I mean working with these organizations gave me the solid understanding about nonprofit. And when I got the chance in two thousand twenty-four in Canada, in Ontario, so I set up a charity organization called Canadian Hope Giving Organization CHGO to ensure that we achieve or at least we do two things, two major things. One to serve immigrants, refugees and newcomers to adjust. Canadian society or with Canadian society and build the community connections that all immigrants slash refugees, newcomers require when they arrive to ⁓ Canada and specifically to Ontario. And second, to support people with disabilities with employment and meaningful employment. Because I ⁓ personally encountered a lot of difficulties, a lot of difficulties to secure meaningful employment. So I wanted to share my experience. And I wanted to be a help for people that who have a disability and are seeking for work. So I understand the value of it, I understand the challenge of it, and I understand the societal implication of it. That if you have a job, what it means, if you don't have a job, what it means as well. ⁓ that's why I wanted to set up a charity organization to specifically achieve two major aspects. So yeah, I mean ⁓ It's a registered charity and ⁓ we are working every day. ⁓ we are not big, definitely not. We have not received sufficient funding, nothing. I work also full time. I'm quite busy with other activities plus my authorship now, my book and stuff. But we do as much as and my family, yes, you're right. ⁓ speaker-0: And your family. Yeah, several full time. I get that. ⁓ my goodness. Yes. So that is so much and so inspiring, right? You started your advocacy work at such a young age as a human rights activist. And like you've achieved so many things, whether it's school, advocacy work, starting a nonprofit, whatever it may be. But to get there, we had to use some assistive technology, I'm assuming, right? So What was your first experience with the system technology? speaker-1: That's a very good question, Kenisha. So, you know, at that age, before age of right before turning twenty, I ⁓ honestly didn't access a technology. And I mentioned that in my book. I mean friends can read my books in my book. The concept of assistive technology, the the term of assistive technology was quite unfamiliar to me. I was not like a Canadian slash American student who accessed from Grade one. I did not have those things. I was trying to purchase braille papers. I was trying to persuade, I can call it convince whatever word to I mean someone financially to record the school textbooks in a in a cassette. At that time it used to be called cassette. ⁓ now it is C D and ⁓ now it's like online applications, mobile applications. Yeah. You know I did not ⁓ speaker-0: They don't know what a cassette is. speaker-1: Exactly. You know, so I'm I'm I'm not too old, but because I didn't access access those things, so I needed to use the basic things. So at the age of ⁓ eighteen, I ⁓ got to know JAS and job access with the speech. I started from version five. I was working with Handicap International or Humanity in Inclusion. And then the ⁓ man the ⁓ head of the organization ⁓ found me a talented ⁓ person, determined person. So she ordered JAWS from India. And what I I was thinking that maybe it's a big computer or it has a different keyboard or monitor or whatever. So I said I was told that this is it. And I didn't know it was a regular computer. But I didn't know that it's a S C D, it's installed in a computer and everything stays the same and so from those days and from that ⁓ level of knowledge, I started assistive using assistive technology. And right now I have iPhone 17 Pro Max. From those days with those ⁓ little tools to now be able to teach other blind people or sighted people because my wife is sighted. I teach her how to use Google Maps. I teach her how to download videos from YouTube for ⁓ you know downloading certain applications. So that's my you know, journey from one extreme to another, Kinesia. speaker-0: It is a big extreme. I'm still learning how to use like the things on my iPhone. And I just started using Fusion, we talk about a lot. So it's like Jaws and the magnifier together. So I'm still trying to figure some of that out too. So you teach assistive technology, don't you? Others, yeah. Yeah. Tell us a little bit about that. speaker-1: I do, yes. Yeah, I actually I have been doing that for for five years now. So I've been ⁓ teaching the assistive technology, ⁓ advising accessibility because my full time job with government is to advise, is to work and also to test assistive technology websites and making sure that they're all accessible and ⁓ user friendly and also teaching privately, I mean like ⁓ voluntarily, ⁓ what folks ⁓ how to use iPhone, how they can access email, and how generally ⁓ assistive technology is used from JAWS to ⁓ mobile applications and Apple products. So not only in my ⁓ role ⁓ with government of Canada but also voluntarily and in my free time I w help ⁓ blind folks and sighted folks. speaker-0: I love that. I love that. And so so you're immersed in the technology so deep right now. And a lot of like we love to talk about what we'd love to see. Like is there a tool or some technology that you wish existed today? Like that would just make things so much easier. What do you think? speaker-1: Yeah, it's a good question. I think there are so many things that we as blind people require and would like to see better things like sometimes I see like, you know, ⁓ still we need a lot to go and a lot to do. There are certain tools like let's say a TV or or ⁓ I know that there are Apple TVs and there has a voice, but they have accessibility issues and some of them are not accessible. And with the apps that we use on daily basis, they c have some technical slash accessibility issues specifically with the updates that arrive or come. And also what I really like to see in the future is a driverless car. that is out there and we have been talking about it. So hopefully one day we can drive and what the just w double top or we can get somewhere and, you know, put the maps and so that's something that I would like to see in the future and speaker-0: Yeah. So right, and and the the driverless cars that we have now aren't really like set for us to be in the driver's seat. They're set more for us to be the passenger, right? Correct. So there are some in the US that that you can get more like a Uber type thing. And then Teslas are self driving. They're very interesting, but I don't think that they're made for blind folks to drive because you still have to be alert, right? Like to be able to No. So yeah, it's very interesting, like the technology. And I I I think that would be cool too to have like some some cars that could drive for us. So what is something that you rely on every single day? speaker-1: Assistive technology wise. speaker-0: Yeah, yeah. This is the technology wise. What is something that speaker-1: Yeah, I mean ⁓ JAWS, obviously I do a lot of testing with JAWS. And also NVDA, ⁓ the non-virtual desk desktop access. And obviously ⁓ voice over ⁓ with phones, Apple products. So I rely on these ⁓ products, these devices on daily basis to do what we need to do. Let's say going somewhere I use Google Maps and to check the bus time and stuff like that. And also when it comes to searching in Google obviously, it can be done with phone, with a computer and jaws, all that. speaker-0: Yeah, what's really cool too is, you know, I I don't get a lot of folks saying that they go more the Android route when it comes to phone. I don't know. And and even computer and stuff like that. I think it's just, I don't know, Mac made it, Apple made it so user friendly and easy to navigate. ⁓ I wonder if there are folks out there that are listening that are blind low vision and they prefer Android. Like please reach out and let us know. I'd love to learn more on on that aspect of things. But I feel that Apple does make it yeah. You're curious as well? speaker-1: I'm curious too. Yes, I am actually, yeah. Yeah. Because some of the clients that come to me, I also have seen a lot ⁓ Apple users and Jaws users. I have not seen as many as I see Android users as much as I see iPhone and Apple products. Yeah. speaker-0: Yeah. Same, same. And I think it's just the easy the accessibility of how simple it might be a little bit to to be able to navigate. So I love this conversation. It's great. And and your story, it's just so inspiring, right? And talks about like overcoming this this huge hurdle that you had to and was that was anyone else in your family hurt, or you were the only one that lost their sight. Yeah. speaker-1: My sister's ⁓ my brother's sister in law also ⁓ was hurt and got hurt, but not as severely as myself. So yeah, it was because she was next to me at the time. But she's okay, yes. I think I am the one that I have I became permanently blind in that ⁓ incident. speaker-0: Well, thinking ahead to the future a little bit, ⁓ what what do you think the next generation of innovators and designers and advocates really need to understand about the blind community? speaker-1: The resilience, I should say, the resilience of blind people, that commitment, the determination ⁓ of a blind community, and generally people with disabilities. ⁓ because you know what I earlier I mentioned that what blindness has taught me is the determination, the commitment, the resiliency that I got out of this. You know, we do everything. But we have to be patient. We have to do we we can do everything, but we have to take some time. You know, that gives us a lot in terms of the perseverance and all that. So what I really like to see, and also the hard work of those blind individuals, these people with disabilities that who work really hard to make the society accessible, to make that their communities accessible, to teach their friends, to raise awareness, wooden communities. It's not easy and it's not as easy task. It's a lot of work. And what I really like to see for the next generation is the hard work, is the foundation that every day and each blind and people with disabilities lays foundation for future. And that's what I would like to see and move where they possibly stop because life up. One day everybody we will die. So that's what I I like to see for next generation to pay homage, I must say, to what ⁓ things have already been done. speaker-0: Yeah, I love that. I love that so much. And I'm looking forward to reading your book, Turning Impossibility into Reality, A Journey Beyond Limits. I downloaded it on Kindle. It was easy to download for the ebook version. And ⁓ I'm looking forward to reading it this week. I'm finishing up one right now. So it's on my radar, my TBR to be read. speaker-1: There you go. And then he will get to know me more. I always joke with my friends. I tell them that if you read my book, then he will not talk to me. speaker-0: That's what say about my book. If you read my book. Goodness, goodness. That's what I say. I was like, I might scare you away after you read it. Well, thank you so much for joining us on the Echo Lens, where we view assistive technology through the eyes of lived experience. So if today's conversation sparks something in you, you can share it, rate it, and keep the dialogue going. To learn more about the beautiful project or support our work, you can visit us at speaker-1: Exactly. speaker-0: Foundation.org. Until next time, stay curious, stay connected, and keep seeing with love. Thanks, everyone.