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KAU is the ZERO Project 2020 Winner with its project SHOW ME THE WAY
Providing Access for People with Disabilities to all University's Facilities
which enables people with a visual challenge with a full access to all university's facilities without any personal assist, by using a special path on the ground and instructions over the mobile phone through Bluetooth.
This project provides a Bluetooth blind pathway and it is one of the initiatives of the National Transformation Program 2020. It enables people with a visual challenge to roam the university's academic field without any personal assist and by using a path on the ground and instructions for connecting them from the mobile phone that is connected to the Bluetooth network. The product is named (Show Me the Way) with a patent registration in progress.
The "Show Me the Way" project is a smart phone application that is one of the pioneering projects in the field of wireless guidance technology in the Kingdom, allowing people with visual disabilities the freedom to move from one place to another on the university campus, completely dependent on themselves by simply standing on the touch lines with the help of the electronic application in areas covered with orientation guidance devices. The application works on setting signs and descriptions of all the university's academic, educational, training, administrative, and other services, such as mosques, restaurants, etc., through which the user passes the application of obstacles, entrances and exits according to the geographical coverage available in the application. KAU stresses the importance of providing services and technologies that appoint students with special needs at the level of mobility, services, activities or academic affairs, as part of the university strive to avail access facilities, for disabled, within the university environment through many programs and projects that have been completed recently. The project divided the university into stages. The first stage that was completed included the public administration building, the Deanship of Information Technology, the Deanship of Student Affairs, the Admission and Registration Deanship, the Center for Special Needs, the University Mosque and the surrounding facilities and services.
Center for People with Disabilities
The center's Vision is to provide world-class facilitation services and leadership in serving the community of students with special needs.
The Agency was established in March 2017. The agency for people with special needs is the first of its kind in all universities of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Its Objectives
Its goal is to promote the full and independent participation of people with special needs in post-secondary education, including students, faculty, staff, and visitors by:
Enabling people with special needs to take their appropriate place in society in accordance with international agreements.
Providing an environment that takes into account individual differences for all individuals.
Taking into account the compatibility of the university environment with the International Convention for Persons with Disabilities.
Providing the necessary support to acquire the necessary academic skills for students with special needs.
Optimizing the use of assistive technology to fulfill tasks related to people with disabilities.
Providing academic, psychological and social counseling for people with disabilities.
Sample Access Schemes for People with Disabilities
Targeted Support
The presence of 3.2 km track for the blind people in the academic field.
Translating the awareness brochures for the Occupational Safety & Health Administration, and the Emergency Center for Sign Language, through an agreement between the Hof Group from one side, and the Occupational Safety & Health Center and the Emergency and Disaster Center at King Abdulaziz University, from the other side.
The existence of an application called Show me the way to introduce blind students to the important places at the academic field in the university.
The university's website supports the speaker program to ensure that students with visual disabilities are guided and advised to access all needed information with full self-independence.
There is a golf cart, wheelchairs, electric chairs for people with disabilities, automatic doors and elevators equipped with Braille language.
Accommodation in the University's Dorms: Providing students, who have various types of disability like mobility, vision, and hearing, with accommodation in the university dorms, and they are provided with services that guarantee a normal university life similar to the rest of their colleagues without any distinction. They even have the priority in choosing the rooms they prefer in the dorms.
Eliminating obstacles such as providing buildings with automatic doors, slopes, etc. The University cooperates in this framework with local and international bodies such as the King Salman Center for Disability Research and the International Organization for Accessibility in the Urban and Electronic gates.
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