Zaynab Rehman has embraced technology throughout her career, but working at Fight for Sight was a step-change.
Before working for the vision loss charity, Zaynab’s work was music-related, working as a songwriter and a voice-over artist. “I was working in a vision impairment charity aiming to create tools for vision impaired musicians, artists and the like,” she said.
Then, Zaynab’s main interaction with technology was via her iPhone and a BrailleNote.
“In that role, I learned communication skills, engagement skills, project management and event organisation, but I wanted to try something new.”
Technological developments
That desire brought Zaynab to Fight for Sight, where she works as our communications assistant.
On the 200th anniversary of Braille, she shared her passion for it but has also been on a journey learning to adapt to new technology and systems.
“Before the world of employment and after I'd finished education, my main source of technology was using Voice Over [screen reader] on the iPhone and a Braille display. I hadn’t realised the urgency to have more advanced IT skills in employment,” she said.
She added, “When I was doing my freelance voice over work, I was getting away with just the phone and having a good microphone set up. And then, with my job at Sound without Sight, I did a lot of work on my phone using Google Docs and Google Sheets. But it wasn't nine to five or as administrative as this role. And it was a small team of three.”
Embracing new skills
In joining Fight for Sight, there was a demand to use Outlook email and Teams. Zaynab also needed to adapt to using more advanced skills on a laptop.
“I was overwhelmed, not because of Fight for Sight, but just because it wasn’t emphasised to me as I grew up how important it was to have IT skills using a laptop. It was like, we're using Excel, we're going to use Teams.
“I thought ‘' How am I going to do all of this? When you're VI as well, there's an expectation in your mind that you must do better than everyone else.”
Zaynab has embraced the challenges.
“I couldn't ask for a better support system than I've had at Fight for Sight. Everyone was so understanding and supportive. The charity has funded my JAWS [screen reader] training, which has been very helpful. I'm much more confident now [and] spreadsheets aren't as scary as they once were, which is great.”
“It's not just helping in this job. It will help me in the future; just having those skills in general is important.”
Looking to the future
In addition to working at Fight for Sight, Zaynab chairs the youth forum of the Royal Society of Blind Children (RSBC), raising awareness of and advocating for aspects of the vision impairment community. So, what are her thoughts on the AI revolution?
“As a vision-impaired person, it's good. I use an app called Be My AI, part of Be My Eyes. It's an AI system that you can take a picture of something, and it will give you a description of it, and you can ask it more questions,” she said.
Zaynab added: “That's been helpful in terms of, for example, if I'm looking at a map on my iPhone, which isn't accessible. Or if I'm cooking and looking for a particular spice, being able to have Be my AI help me with that is good.”
She also uses ChatGPT and says it helps her get around. “Besides asking questions for fun, I use it to plan routes. “I use a lot of Ubers. Being able to be dropped off safely is an issue. So, I've been using ChatGPT to ask for a layout of a specific place.
“AI has been revolutionary. I think there's so much potential for it to develop even more. And we're seeing Meta glasses. I’d love a pair, but I’m waiting to see how they advance.”
Human intelligence
While her passion for technology has evolved, maintaining the ‘human touch’ for Zaynab is vital. “AI is wonderful. Tech is wonderful. But equally, you need that interaction.”
She also remains passionate about Braille and continues to explore the interplay between the two-hundred-year-old technology and today’s technology.
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