Saudi teenage girl invents writing system for the visually impaired

Talah F. Abualnaja, a 14-year-old middle school student in Saudi Arabia has created a new writing system for the visually impaired, securing the third position at the Intel International Science & Engineering Fair 2018 that took place in Pittsburgh, USA.

Abualnaja shared with Arab News that she had always been curious about the challenges that visually impaired people have to come across and wanted to help them out. She told that her school has taken part in a project that integrates students with visual impairments into public schools. She had been interacting with three students and was quite curious regarding the letters they use and how they communicate. She felt amazed by their over sized books and was motivated to learn about their world. From there she set on a pursuit to look for answers.

She developed a new writing system that requires smaller spacing when printing by making use of diacritics placed above the letters instead of writing it as a separate letter. The new writing system further follows a certain pattern that saves time and is comparatively easier than braille.

Abualnaja explained that diacritical marks have different geometrical shapes from those of the letters’ shapes. Also, the geometrical patterns are written in small forms above the letters unlike in braille. The marks are written as new letters. The brilliant student has been working on her projects for a couple of years. The idea of the shapes that represent the letters hit her two years back. She said that seeing her classmates struggle, she was triggered to bring the idea to life.

Abualnaja has applied for a patent and is now planning to publish her work. Its nothing new that female students all over the world are making history by coming up with remarkable achievements.