Inspirational student who lost his eyesight fleeing Syria graduates from Bristol University

A student who was blinded while fleeing his home country has graduated from the University of Bristol.

Maher Fattouh and his family fled Syria when he was just 21 to avoid military conscription under Bashar al-Assad, whose regime was recently toppled in December 2024.

Graduating with a masters from the School of Education, Maher spoke during the ceremony last week, where he told his story.

As he crossed the border into Lebanon in 2014, Maher was caught up in a bomb explosion and, after spending a week in a Red Cross field hospital, doctors confirmed he would never see again.

Maher’s speech about his road to Bristol and his defiance of adversity brought many in the audience to tears.

via University of Bristol

After a short career as a full-time footballer in Damascus, Maher was determined to make a new life for himself.

Insistent on gaining an education, he would pay a friend to read books to him and before long he was teaching other visually impaired people. In 2022 he received an English teaching qualification from the University of Cambridge.

Then, in 2023, he received another scholarship, this time to study for a Psychology of Education master’s at the University of Bristol.

He travelled to the UK alone and despite the challenges of navigating university life blind, Maher commented on the kindness of Bristolians and how the cobbles “feel identical to those in old Damascus”.

Maher said that he would sometimes fall or slip when making his way around university but he insists on “living like everyone else” and that “even if I fall, nothing will stop me from going out”.

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He said: “I’d like to show that a person with massive, massive challenges can live safely and independently and achieve academic excellence at a place like the University of Bristol.”

via University of Bristol

He described how he defied expectations: “In my community the definition of visual impairment is a ‘fall into darkness’.

“It means a lot of negative things: no more football, no more camping, no more anything you like. You won’t be able to manage, you will live dependent on others, you may be excluded, you may lose opportunities and life may be miserable and depressing.

“But I thought, why do I need to accept that definition, or that continuation of my story. Is it true that all the happiness and meaning in the world are limited to the eyesight? I therefore decided to disagree with that definition, and I chose an entirely different scenario.”

Bristol University’s vice-chancellor and president, Evelyn Welch, who was conducting the ceremony, said: “Maher is a remarkable man who has shown amazing fortitude and resilience to achieve all he has, despite the challenges he has faced. We are proud to call him a University of Bristol graduate.”

Maher, now 32 and working as an Academic Support Officer in London, hopes to return to Syria in the wake of the fall of al-Assad after not returning for over 10 years. He wishes to see his family, most of whom still live in Damascus.

Featured image via University of Bristol