Who is Kledian Leka, the first blind Albanian to graduate in IT

2024-03-25 16:13:00, Aktualitet CNA

Kledian Leka

Kledian Leka is the first blind student to graduate in Computer Science at the University of Parma, Italy.

The 23-year-old of Albanian origin, resident in Casalmaggiore (Cremones), completed the 3-year cycle with the maximum points (110 cum laude) for the thesis entitled "Computer Education".

The media of the neighboring state "La Republica" writes that Leka's thesis described strategies and tools for inclusive access for students with visual impairments.

"My thesis can be a manual to help children with total or partial visual impairment. There were no teaching materials for blind students, so I set out to translate and convert all the traditional documents they were studying on, so that they would be readable for us blind people", the Albanian told "Corriere della Sera".

Kledian gave a questionnaire to the other blind students, in which he asked them to show proposals to overcome all the obstacles. A summary of the responses was included in the thesis.

Who is Kledian Leka, the first blind Albanian to graduate in IT

Along the way he met students, who after a few months decided to leave discouraged by the difficulties and now, thanks to his commitment, have more concrete hopes to move forward.

"From today the University of Parma, and perhaps other universities, will have a starting point with which they will compare and from which they will take inspiration to improve access", he declared.

Klediani has shown that at the age of 11 he lost his sight as a result of an accident, but now he is a programmer for a company.

"I continued to work, from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Then, from 2:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. I devoted myself to studying. I never thought of stopping and feeling sorry for myself, I decided to fight to make all my dreams come true," Leka emphasized.

He graduated as an IT expert with top marks. Until 2020 he collaborated with the Bijou Museum of Casalmaggiore. The young man is registered with the national register of IT teachers and is qualified to coach blind athletes after practicing athletics at a competitive level for two years./ CNA