Mounes Abdul Wahab (born 1947) is a civil rights activist, author and pioneer of disability rights movement in

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

. He has been blind since birth.

Early life

Mounes was born to Fadwa and Kifli Abdul Wahab in the Lebanese city of El-Mina, and is a grandson of

Kheireddine Abdul Wahab Kheireddine Abdul Wahab (1878 – January 1944) was a Lebanese businessman and mayor of the city of El Mina, who played a pivotal role in the establishment of Lebanon's second largest harbor, at Tripoli, as well as founding the Piloting & Harbo ...

. Blind at birth, Mounes spent his early years in El Mina, mostly home schooled. Later during his teens, he was schooled in specialized schools in

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

and

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

, Egypt, where he learned

braille Braille (Pronounced: ) is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired, including people who are Blindness, blind, Deafblindness, deafblind or who have low vision. It can be read either on Paper embossing, embossed paper ...

. He then enrolled at the

American University of Beirut The American University of Beirut (AUB) ( ar, الجامعة الأميركية في بيروت) is a private, non-sectarian, and independent university chartered in New York with its campus in Beirut, Lebanon. AUB is governed by a private, aut ...

, where he received a bachelor's degree in Arabic literature in 1974 and later a master's degree in the same subject in 1983.

Civil Rights Activism

Abdul Wahab's civil activism began while he was still a student at the

. He joined the Lebanese Association of Blind Workers (established in 1935) and was elected to its board of governors in 1974. While still a student at the university, in 1975, he founded the Lebanese Association of Blind University Graduates and represented Lebanon in the international conference for the blind in Berlin, Germany that same year, which saw participation of over 130 countries. With

Lebanese Civil War The Lebanese Civil War ( ar, الحرب الأهلية اللبنانية, translit=Al-Ḥarb al-Ahliyyah al-Libnāniyyah) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 120,000 fatalities a ...

breaking out in 1975, Abdul Wahab was forced to suspend his graduate studies and return to his hometown of El-Mina. He later resumed his graduate studies in 1981, and continued his activism by hosting a radio show ''With the Handicapped'' for three years that helped raise awareness of issues faced by the disability community and bring them to the general public. That same year, he was appointed to the National Committee of the Disabled, and represented Lebanon in regional conferences for the disabled between 1981 and 1984 in Amman, Sharja and Riyadh respectively. Upon his graduation with an MA in Arabic Literature in 1983, he returned to his hometown of El-Mina in North Lebanon, and was, alongside professor Nawaf Kabbara, a founding member of the North Lebanon branch of The Friends of the Handicapped Association, the largest non-governmental organization for people with disabilities in Lebanon. With Kabbara, he played a vital role in pioneering events such as the Handicapped Peacewalk from North to South Lebanon in 1987 and the 1988

Oxfam Oxfam is a British-founded confederation of 21 independent charitable organizations focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International. History Founded at 17 Broad Street, Oxford, as the Oxford Co ...

Lebanon Peace conference which formed a significant step in the disability rights movement in the country. Abdul Wahab again represented his country in numerous conferences in Belarus, Egypt and Jordan. Abdul Wahab remains active on the civil rights scene and was the first disabled man to be elected to municipal committee of El-Mina in the 1996 general elections. He published his memoirs in 2003 and remains a regular contributor to numerous publications and newspapers.

References

*''Ayam Mou'nes''." (Days of Mounes) - M. Abdul Wahab, 2003, Friends of the Handicapped Press. {{DEFAULTSORT:Abdul Wahab, Mounes Lebanese activists 1947 births Living people Blind activists