来自阿联酋的坦维尔·曼苏尔·赛义德（Tanveer Mansur Syed）是美国大约82万国际学生当中的一个。他目前在乔治·华盛顿大学（George Washington University）攻读中学生物教育硕士学位。

赛义德法定视盲，因此他的校园经历与一般学生不太一样。但由于有《美国残疾人法》（Americans with Disabilities Act ，缩写ADA）所规定的各种方便设施，赛义德能够在校园里和周围街区往来，而创新工具的使用使他能跟上学业。

他说，乔治·华盛顿大学对残疾人非常支持，“学校为我提供了很多另外格式的资料。”他展示了能把教科书章节用放大黑体字显示在电脑屏幕上的电子设备。

他说：“我能够实际阅读课程所规定的教材，所以我可以和其他人一样作好预习去[课堂]。”这种设备甚至可以朗读课本，“这样我基本上就可以闭上眼睛听。”

对于赛义德来说，典型的一天生活包括穿行城市街道——装在路杆上的装置为视障人士过马路提供了方便。赛义德可以通过按装置上的按钮，让机器告诉他在有车的时候等待，在安全的时候过马路。

他说，“另一些功能，比如不停发出的蜂鸣声，也能让视障人士知道哪里是规定的人行横道线。”

他可以在进出建筑物时使用坡道，这对他来说比使用楼梯更安全。一旦进入建筑物，他发现“很多电梯系统……配有触觉功能以及盲文阅读功能”。

自从禁止歧视残疾人的《美国残疾人法》于 1990年通过以来， 残疾人便能够上学、上班和去其他地方。而技术进步则加速了实现残疾人充分参与社会的目标。

赛义德说，他每天都受益于因《美国残疾人法》而形成的校园环境：“作为一名国际学生，我一直听说美国是一个充满机会的国家，这个[美国残疾人法]制度……让残疾人得到与非残疾人[同样]的机会和对待。”

在美国，“残疾人……作为公民受到重视。《美国残疾人法》应该为此受到祝贺与赞扬”。

Tanveer Mansur Syed, from the United Arab Emirates, is one of an estimated 820,000 international students in the United States. He attends George Washington University, where he’s pursuing a master’s degree in secondary-education biology.

He’s also legally blind, so his campus experience isn’t quite the same as the average student’s. But thanks to accommodations for the disabled that were mandated by theAmericans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Syed is able to navigate his campus and the surrounding neighborhood while using innovative tools that help him keep up with his studies.

George Washington University is very supportive, “providing me with a lot of material inalternative format that I need,”  he says. He demonstrates an electronic device that converts his textbook chapters into significantly enlarged boldface type that appears on his computer screen.

“I can actually read chapters of these textbooks, which are required for class, so that I can go in [the classroom] as prepared as the other people,” he explains. The device even reads the text aloud, “so I can just pretty much close my eyes and listen.”

For Syed, a typical day involves making his way through city streets — an activity made easier for the visually impaired by the presence of pole-mounted crosswalk machines. Syed can press a button on the machine, which instructs him to wait when cars are passing and advises him when it’s safe to cross to the other side.

“Even certain features, such as it constantly beeping, it lets the person with visual impairment know where the designated crossing area is,” he says.

When he enters or exits a building, he can use ramps, which are safer for him than stairs. And once inside a building, he finds “a lot of elevator systems … have tactile features as well as Braille features.”

Since its passage in 1990, the ADA — which prohibits discrimination against the disabled — has made it possible for people with disabilities to go to school, to work and everywhere else. And advances in technology are accelerating the goal of full participation for the disabled.

Syed says he benefits each day from a campus environment shaped by ADA regulations: “As an international student, I’ve always heard that America is the land of opportunity, so this [ADA] system … provides people with disability that [same] opportunity and equal treatment as people without disabilities.”

In the United States, “people with disabilities are … valued as citizens. The ADA should be congratulated and applauded for that.”