Social science research assistant Rawhi Farha has been blind since birth.
However, armed with a “can-do” attitude, helpful colleagues and a few basic tools like an Artic Vision Synthesizer attached to his personal computer, Farha is able to clean thousands of pieces of data and make them readable for social science colleagues at the U-M and throughout the United States.
Much of the data that Farha works with comes from Bureau of Justice statistics and the National Institute of Justice. He works in the Center for Political Studies at the Institute for Social Research.
When Farha joined the U-M 10 years ago, he worked with a key puncher. As the technology has developed, Farha has gradually upgraded his equipment. In addition to his computer, he has a Braille labeler to make labels for his computer keys and an optical tactile converter to read text. Newer optical tactile converters are available that can be connected to a personal computer but Farha doesn’t have one yet.
Born on the West Bank under Jordanian rule, Farha attended an elementary school for the blind in Palestine and a high school for blind and sighted students. He graduated from Wayne State University in 1973 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology.
Farha’s wife sometimes brings him to work or he uses the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority-sponsored cab service. The father of four children, ages 2, 5, 10 and 12, recalls concerns on the part of colleagues when he was first hired that he might not be able to do the job.
“You just have to try your best,” says Farha, who also expressed appreciation to his office mate and social science research assistant Christian Lysholm and others at ISR who he describes as “very helpful.”
