Muhannad Alazzeh is a Jordanian politician and the first member of the Senate with disabilities in the history of Jordan. He is a critic of extremist intellectual thought and an advocate of reform of religious discourse, and he writes about political and legal affairs and human rights. He is a certified international expert in the field of analysis and drafting of legislation, legal research and human rights retees .
He was born on June 5, 1970, in Zarqa, Jordan to a middle-class family. He was born with the retinal detachment that led to the gradual loss of his vision, and he became legally blind at the age of ten.
Alazzeh was initially enrolled in a school in Amman until the age of seven, where he used to read and write using glasses and special lighting. At the age of eight, he moved to the only school for the blind at the time, which was located in Jabal Ashrafieh in the eastern of capital, Amman, to finish his preparatory studies. Next, he moved to Aqaba High School, where he finished secondary school and returned to obtain a high school diploma from Salah El-Din School in Amman. He excelled as a student and was able to keep up with his peers. During his childhood, he was passionate about studying scientific subjects and dreamt of becoming a scientist in genetic engineering, only to be shocked by the fact that blind students in Jordan were denied entry to the scientific branch in high school because they were not taught mathematics.
He describes his childhood years in the boarding school for the blind as similar to the events of Jane Eyre by the British writer Charlotte Brontë, since living conditions were harsh. Children would freeze in the cold winters and would suffocate in the hot summers. There was no heating or cooling system or proper nutrition or hygiene, besides widespread psychological and physical violence. This planted a desire in him to play some role in the future in defending victims of violence, especially children and persons with disabilities.
His father encouraged him to use a white cane while moving about before he lost his eyesight completely to prepare him psychologically for the next stage of eyesight loss. At the age of ten, Alazzeh was able to move and use transportation on his own.
As a boy, he resisted the idea that losing his eyesight would deprive him of the things he loved, and he relied on his other senses to continue playing football and cycling even in high school. He also mastered playing the piano, accordion, the keyboard and the violin. Staying at the boarding school for the blind for many years and thereafter with his relatives, away from his family, enabled him to form an independent personality at a young age, and always made him feel that he was able to live and face life’s challenges without assistance.
Since his childhood, he dreamt of the day when he would be able to travel to Egypt to complete his studies. He was greatly affected by the image he painted of this country in his mind through the novels he read and radio dramas of which he was fond. As soon as he finished high school in Jordan, he enrolled in Alexandria University despite the objection of his parents and their fear of having him travel and live alone. He insisted on his decision and was able to convince them otherwise. He arrived in Egypt in October 1988 and stayed there for 14 years. He describes these years as the best years of his life in which he formed true friendships with friends with whom he remained in touch throughout the years.
Dr. Muhannad Alazzeh 