Blind at birth, Mounes spent his early years in El Mina, mostly home schooled.
He joined the Lebanese Association of Blind Workers (established in 1935) and was elected to its board of governors in 1974.
With Lebanese Civil War breaking out in 1975, Abdul Wahab was forced to suspend his graduate studies and return to his hometown of El-Mina.
He later resumed his graduate studies in 1981, and continued his activism by hosting a radio show With the Handicapped for three years that helped raise awareness of issues faced by the disability community and bring them to the general public.
With Kabbara, he played a vital role in pioneering events such as the Handicapped Peacewalk from North to South Lebanon in 1987 and the 1988 Oxfam Lebanon Peace conference[clarification needed] which formed a significant step in the disability rights movement in the country.