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Syrian Blinded in War Graduates from UK University

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A Syrian man who lost his eyesight while fleeing his home country has graduated from the University of Bristol.

 

Maher Fattouh (pictured above) was caught up in a bomb explosion in 2014 as he crossed the border into Lebanon to avoid military service in Bashar al-Assad’s former regime.

 

After a week in a Red Cross field hospital in Lebanon, doctors confirmed that he would never see again. Maher was just 21.

 

A full-time footballer from Damascus, Maher had no qualifications and could not speak English. But despite these unimaginable challenges, he created a new life for himself.

 

He worked hard to find learning materials and would pay a friend to read entire books to him. Soon, he was teaching other visually impaired people and in 2018 he received his high school diploma.

 

Later that year, he earned a scholarship to one of Lebanon’s top universities and in 2022 he received an English teaching qualification from the University of Cambridge.

Then, in 2023, he received another scholarship, this time to study for a Psychology of Education master’s at the University of Bristol’s School of Education.

 

Maher says that he became determined to live his life to the full after he lost his eyesight - and he now wants to give others hope.

 

“I’d like to show that a person with massive, massive challenges can live safely and independently and achieve academic excellence at a place like the University of Bristol,” said Maher at his emotional graduation ceremony.

 

“I’m really proud of owning my story. I lived so many dark periods for so long. For a long time one of my dreams was just to open a bank account, because I couldn’t as a Syrian.

 

“In my community the definition of visual impairment is a ‘fall into darkness’.

 

“It means a lot of negative things: no more football, no more camping, no more anything you like. You won’t be able to manage, you will live dependent on others, you may be excluded, you may lose opportunities, and life may be miserable and depressing.

 

“But I thought, why do I need to accept that definition, or that continuation of my story? Is it true that all the happiness and meaning in the word are limited to the eyesight? I therefore decided to disagree with that definition, and I chose an entirely different scenario.”

 

Maher, who is now working as an Academic Support Officer in London, has not been back to Syria in more than 10 years. He hopes that the fall of al-Assad will allow him to return to his country and visit his family, most of whom still live in Damascus.

 

 

 

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