A Visually Impaired Technion Student Awarded the Google Scholarship for Students with Disabilities

Ahmad Ziad Abasi, a third year visually impaired student in Technion’s Faculty of Electrical Engineering, was awarded the 2013 Google Scholarship for Students with Disabilities. Next week, he will receive the special award, in the amount of 7,000 EUR, at the Google Office in Zurich along with 16 other recipients from all across Europe. The recipients of this scholarship were chosen from amongst dozens of candidates, for their demonstrated excellence in computer science and their ability to lead technological processes. Abasi is the only Israeli student receiving this award, this year.

Associate Professor Yossi Gil from Technion’s Faculty of Computer Science was Ahmad’s professor in his second year course in programming languages, and it was he who recommended him for this scholarship. “I usually don’t write recommendation letters for students who have not yet completed their studies,” wrote Professor Gil in his recommendation letter to Google, “Moreover, I don’t ordinarily recommend students from other faculties. However, after having been Ahmad’s teacher and mentor last year, I recommend him for this scholarship wholeheartedly. People with disabilities tend to rely on society for support. Ahmad’s case is completely the opposite – not only is he exceptionally smart and learns like all regular students, he also contributes to others by giving private tutoring lessons to fellow students in his class in mathematics, physics and computer science.”

Ahmad Abasi, an outstanding student who speaks four languages (Arabic, Hebrew, English and French), has had low vision since birth. He was born in the United States to a Muslim family. A few short months after he was born, he was diagnosed with a hereditary eye disease called Nystagmus, characterized by involuntary eye movement and sensitivity to light. “This is an impairment that tends to be found in males,” explains his mother Haolh, “Many of our extended family members share this visual impairment, only in Ahmad it is the most severe – he is almost completely blind.”

When Ahmad was four years old, his family returned to Israel. His parents refused to send him to a special needs school, and he attended regular and even demanding schools, among them, the Catholic school known as the Carmelite School run by nuns. When he was preparing for an exam his mother would sit long hours with him and write his materials in large letters. The school made concessions by allowing Ahmad take his exams in the Principal’s office, and preparing for him enlarged print ups of test papers.

Ahmad graduated from high school with honors, and in the spring of 2012 he began studying computer engineering at Technion’s Faculty of Electrical Engineering (a joint study track with the Faculty of Computer Science). Since he began his studies at Technion, he has received straight A’s in numerous courses.

“All of the questions and concerns that troubled us since he was born resurfaced with greater intensity when Ahmad was accepted to Technion,” said his father, Professor Ziad Abasi, a faculty member of the Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine at the Rambam Health Care Campus. “We were worried that this prestigious and demanding institution would take its toll on him. In the first few days we went with him from his dorm room to the faculty building, and we escorted him into the lecture halls as if we were first year students ourselves There were moments of crisis, tears and even feelings of helplessness. Sometimes I secretly followed him to make sure he would get to the lecture hall on his own. I’d sit in the hall without his knowledge, waiting to see how he would manage. I also spoke with the faculty assistants, tutors and lecturers to give him a chance to discover his extraordinary scientific and spiritual abilities. But I never asked them for any special concessions.”

“My parents always protected me,” says Ahamad, “But also fought for my right to be able to do everything, for example to attend a regular school. They didn’t keep me confined, but rather gave me the freedom to choose my own future and write my own destiny. Technion’s Center for the Advancement of Students assisted me during exam periods by providing me with enlarged copies of the tests and letting me sit in a separate room. They also helped me by settling me into a dorm with an elevator, and by pairing me up with a roommate who assists me wholeheartedly. The way from the dormitories to the faculty I walked for the first time with my father, just as I always do, and today I can do it on my own, from memory and from the colors I recognize (I can see color).”

“I am very excited about receiving this scholarship,” he added. He thanks everyone who had a hand in helping him attain it. “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and is exceptionally special because of the world renowned Google name and its added value to the high-tech industry.”

At Ahmad’s request, Professor Gil will accompany him to the award ceremony in Zurich. “This scholarship is important as it recognizes Ahmad’s exceptional abilities,” said Professor Gil, “But it is more important for me to help him fit into a workplace and programming. The disadvantages brought on by Ahmad’s eyesight are evident, but his mathematical abilities are extraordinary, his social skills are excellent, and his mastery of languages and innovative thinking are skills that cannot be learned. There are not many engineers like him. I haven’t a doubt that if I was leading a high-tech company, I would do everything in my power to recruit him.”

In the photo: Ahmad Ababsi. Photographed by: Technion’s Spokespersons’ Office