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Morning News

Aziza Baccouche Discusses Overcoming Blindness

Aired August 11, 2000 - 11:52 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: we're back and working now. Aziza Baccouche live in Washington, you can hear me now. Good morning to you.

AZIZA BACCOUCHE, CNN FREELANCE PRODUCER: Good morning to you, Bill.

HEMMER: I know you're legally blind. What happened in your case, Aziza?

BACCOUCHE: I basically had a brain tumor, which affected my optic nerve, and I lost sight as a result of that. I have about 9 percent of normal site.

HEMMER: What age?

BACCOUCHE: At eight.

HEMMER: Eight, OK. Let's talk about the new technology. There's a lot out there, but how is it helping those who are legally blind?

BACCOUCHE: I think it's, you know, helping us in many ways in a sense that it's, you know, allowing us to be competitive in the workplace. I mean, we're seeing all types of technology, from computer technology, speech output software, screen enlargement, Braille synthesizers and Braille -- refreshable Braille that is allowing blind people really to be on the same playing field as our sighted counterparts in the workplace.

HEMMER: I know one of your big issues is trying to get more blind people who don't work or seek employment because of frustration or other reasons to actually try it and get outside and do take employment. How is that going, and what do you say to them?

BACCOUCHE: Well, about 70 percent of working-age blind people in the United States -- and that's about 70 percent of half of a million, close to half a million blind people, are unemployed in this country, and I think much of it has to with employers' perceptions and attitudes about what blind people can and cannot do, and I think that much needs to be done to change that perception: that we are -- certainly, this new generation of young people, we're getting the skills and training and education necessary to compete like everybody else. HEMMER: And certainly we can see from the videotape how the technology helps you, because that's you working there at our bureau in Washington.

I know we'll get more -- on this weekend's "SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY" we'll hear more on your story, correct?

BACCOUCHE: That's correct. This -- tomorrow, Saturday, at 1:30 right here on CNN, "SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY."

HEMMER: Great, great. Good plug. Aziza Baccouche, live in Washington, come on back, OK. We'll talk more.

BACCOUCHE: Absolutely. Thanks, Bill.

HEMMER: All right.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com

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