DUBAI, Jan 13: People with disabilities must stand up for their rights. In the same way, the able-bodied must not condescend on People with disabilities but empathise.

Kuwaiti Family Care and Education specialist Dr Mohammad Al Gallaf said, these are the realisations anybody must bear in mind and in heart, when he spoke with The Gulf Today on Wednesday.

The host of the weekly Sharjah Radio programme Waladi (“My Son”), was the motivational speaker before over 30 physically disabled people and women with disabilities at the Sharjah Ladies Club (SLC).

The event was part of the ongoing Be-Cause Campaign of SLC. Al Gallaf said he does not have the exact number of People with disabilities and particularly of the physically disabled people in the region.

He has seen an improvement on the openness of the Gulf governments in tackling and providing facilities to People with disabilities for their convenience. Even the governments have set up many institutions to assist them transform into independent persons, and more importantly, giving them the right to employment.

On the other hand, more needs to be done with regards to the acceptance of People with disabilities in our society. “We used to be in an environment wherein we had to hide them because of embarrassment,” Al Gallaf said.

“Now, more and more people are accepting,” he added. Yet, when asked of his advise to the PWDs, Al Gallaf said: “Well, they do not have to wait for somebody to take or do something for them to have their rights. They have to go for their rights because these are theirs.”

“Even if they are disabled, they have rights just like anybody else,” he stressed, citing the case of a wheelchair-bound woman in her early 20s, in his home country who asked him once if she has the right to marry.

The question stemmed from an incident in the young woman’s neighbourhood, where men who had approached her for marriage were cautioned because of her condition.

“I told these people to be careful of what they were saying and doing because we do not know what would happen and they may be disabled some day,” Al Gallaf related.

“They are like us, born normal but met accident and then turned into physically-impaired or disabled,” he continued.

Implying the need for the able-bodied to empathise, Al Gallaf said: “We do not need (to be physically disabled peeople) to feel and know how they feel.”

The vice-chairman of the private group Will and Challenge Team in Kuwait which supports PWDs and people with special needs advised to be persistent and instructed not to restrict one’s self to problems or difficulties.

They should also surround with positive people because there are those who would pull down others to their delight. And should have self-confidence and be positive to be able to get out of the rut.

Saying the advice is not only meant for People with disabilities , Al Gallaf said, that what matters in life is that amid obstructions, people would achieve what they want in life according to “how you see yourself, how you define yourself, and how you perceive the disabilities.”

PWDs must learn to fight for their own battles, he said.

According to a World Health Organisation and World Bank 2011 report, 1.2 billion people across the globe live with disabilities, with between 110 and 190 million believed to experience significant functioning disabilities.

The report stated: “across the world, people with disabilities have poorer health outcomes, lower educational achievements, less economic participation and higher rates of poverty than people without disabilities.”

“This is partly because people with disabilities experience barriers in accessing services that many of us have long taken for granted, including health, education, employment and transport, as well as information. These difficulties are exacerbated in less advantaged communities.”

In her message, WHO Director General Dr Margaret Chan said: “Disability is part of the human condition. We must do more to break the barriers which segregate people with disabilities, in many cases forcing them to the margins of society.”


Source: http://gulftoday.ae