Aziza Baccouche

Baccouche was born to an African-American mother and Tunisian father^[3] on November 25, 1972^[4] and brought up in Tunisia. She developed a brain tumor as a child, which caused a disorder called hydrocephalus when she was eight years old. ^[5] Hydrocephalus blocks cerebral fluid in the brain and creates pressure within the ventricles. In Baccouche's case, that pressure damaged her optic nerve causing her to lose all but 9% of her vision by the age of eight. ^[2]

Baccouche was the first blind person to study physics at the College of William & Mary, graduating in 1995 with a Bachelor of Science. ^[3] Her undergraduate advisor suggested that because she was blind, she should not study physics. ^[5] Baccouche earned her master's degree from Hampton University^[6] in 1998 and her PhD in theoretical nuclear physics from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 2002. ^[7] Her dissertation entitled "Phenomenology of Isoscalar Heavy Baryons" focused on heavy baryons.^[8][9] She attended a private elementary school in Tunis named Jeanne D’Arc. The school was not equipped to teach visually impaired students.  In the 6th grade a national exam that all elementary students had to pass in order to go on to secondary school would be administered at the end of the school year.  Her school administrators were very concerned about her ability to pass the exam given her visual constraints.  So a decision was made for me to enroll in the only elementary school for the blind in Tunis.  She reluctantly transitioned to Bir El Kasaa. ^[10] A few days before the beginning of her secondary school year, she started at her new school for the blind in Sousse, Tunisia.  This was a boarding school like the one in Bir El Kasaa. There were no opportunities for extracurricular activities at the school. While many students were musically inclined, there were no instruments and no music returning to the United States instruction.  She studied in Sousse for one year before her family returned to the United States.^[11]