Adel Abdullah Majed Al-Zomer was born in Sharjah, UAE, in 1968. He's married with 7 children: 3 daughters and 4 sons. He was born with a visual disability caused by optic nerve atrophy according to all his medical reports. His family got extremely concerned about searching for a cure for his condition after discovering his disability in and out UAE. This didn't mean a lot for him at that time because he grew up in a family that never made him feel disabled, despite the fact that there were no educational services or programs intended for people with visual disabilities.
He and his family were always concerned about his education, especially when he started to realize that his peers went to school and he was left alone in the morning with no one to play with. There was no chance to receive his education in UAE, so his family had to choose either to send him abroad to study, or wait for the unknown. Of course it wasn't easy to send him abroad at that early age. In 1981, Care and Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities was opened in Dubai, and a similar one in Abu Dhabi, so his father hurried to register him in Dubai Center. Then he joined Al-Noor Institute for the Arabian Gulf (Now the Saudi Bahraini Institute for the Blind) to continue his study. He returned to UAE in the late eighties to continue his secondary school in literacy schools.
In 1991, Adel worked in the Culture and Media Department, Government of Sharjah. He describes that period as one of the most important periods of his life as he acquired a great knowledge and skills as well as self-confidence and self-reliance. In 1998, he received a generous scholarship from HH Sheikh Sultan Ben Mohammed Al-Qasimy, Ruler of Sharjah, to study in Human Sciences College, Social Services Department, United Arab Emirates University. After his graduation in 2001, he worked as the Head of People with Special Needs Section in The Sharjah Library.
He participated in many youth camps which were held for the students of Al-Noor Institutes during the eighties such as: Salalah Youth Camp 1984, Cairo and Alexandria Youth Camp 1985, Sharjah Youth Camp 1987, Qatar Youth Camp 1989, and Damascus Youth Camp 1990. He also participated in many International Conferences on the Affairs of Visually Impaired such as The Fourth General Assembly Meeting of World Blind Union held in Toronto, Canada in 1996, all the Meetings of the Executive Committees of Asian Blind Union between the years 2001-2004, The Sixth General Assembly Meeting of World Blind Union in Cape Town, Republic of South Africa, and The conference on the Development and Unification of Arabic Braille Method 2003 in Saudi Arabia in which he presented a working paper on the Ability to Develop Unified Arabic Braille Method. Participants received his working paper with a great recognition and as a result he was chosen as a permanent member in the Committee of Development and Unification of Arabic Braille Method. He had also presided GCC Association for Visual Impairment since its establishment in 2003.
He began his voluntary work in an early stage of his life through joining the founding group of Emirates Association for Blind and became a member of it after its establishment in 1985. He still works there with a group of volunteers. He held many administrative positions in EAB such as: impermanent board member, Head of Cultural Committee for two consecutive sessions, EAB manager, Vice-Chairman for two consecutive sessions.
He has done a lot of voluntary work with several regional and international organizations. He also worked on converting the Holy Quran to an electronic copy to enable the blind and visually impaired to read it using Laptops or Braille Displays. This project was done in 3 years. Adel also contributed in arabizing some modern techniques for the blind such as Virgo and HAL. He prepared and evaluated the tables of Arabic letters. He also contributed in the KISR Program to convert Arabic language to Braille Method, designed by Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR). Adel has held many specialized courses in computer, display readers for the blind, and Teaching Braille Method for blind, parents or teachers.
To contact Adel: alzamar@emirates.net.ae
Adel recommends you to visit the following websites: