By Francis Onoiribholo,
The Initiative for Advancement of the Albinism Cause (INAAC), has inaugurated a book club for Children with Albinism (CWA) in Edo, through an access to low vision aids, in order to promote a reading culture among them.
Miss Joy Odigie, founder of the Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), announced this on Sunday in Benin via a press statement made available to journalists.
The book club, which had opened in Benin, the Edo capital, Odigie said, was aimed to cultivate reading habit among the CWA and their peers at an early age through unlimited access to books.
‘’Most children with albinism, due to low vision, find it difficult to read what is written on the board and their textbooks, and as such, hamper their academic performance at the primary school level.
‘’The book club is to give hope to CWA, that they can have unlimited access to books with the help of low vision aids as well as build an interpersonal relationship with other children and non-children with albinism.
‘’The books are made up of both small and large fonts books; the low vision aids will help the children with albinism read books will small fonts effortlessly as well as read comfortably without squinting their eyes.
‘’We want to inspire children with albinism who prefer not to socialize due to discrimination to build self-confidence as well broaden their mindset about their personality,” said the founder.
She urged class teachers to take into cognizance that most children with albinism need low vision aids to do well academically.
‘’The education need of children with albinism has not been fully taken into consideration.
‘’CWA need low vision aids like magnifiers, magnifying glasses, to increase their speed and accuracy when they are reading and to process knowledge and information at a young age.
‘’An intervention to empower this group of children with knowledge will help them do well in the society when they become adults,” she said.
She added that “albinism mostly results in poor vision, with involuntary nystagmus, photophobia and strabismus.”
