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Participants at the two-day seminar on ‘social integration of people with intellectual disabilities’ organised by Best Buddies Qatar, yesterday called for ensuring the rights of people with mental disabilities as well as their integration and empowerment within the |
Other recommendations put forward by the seminar participants were: development and updating of laws protecting the rights of persons with disabilities as well as following up on their implementation; regulations that will enable them in the work environments; integrated centre for the care and vocational rehabilitation; centres of social development in various parts of the state; strengthening the co-operation between the government and state institutions in the field of scientific research in the quantitative and qualitative field in order to create database to help in decision-making and improve the quality of services provided to them; and strengthening co-operation and integration between government agencies and civil society institutions and the development of employment
programmes.
Speaking on the sideline, the Qatar Centre for Protection and Social Rehabilitation’s research expert and a social worker Dr Salah al-Mannai, who presented a paper on the subject, stressed the need for more social workers in the field.
“A social worker has to be very educated in his chosen profession because it is a very important profession for the humanity. I want to see more qualified social workers in this field,” he noted.
Dr Al-Mannai said that there are presently about 70 students attending a social work programme at the Qatar University.
“I hope that once these students graduate they will become social workers for different organisations working in the humanitarian field. But above all, the most important thing is to see many of the ideas being discussed here at the seminar translated into actions that will impact people with intellectual disabilities,” he stated.
Qatar Foundation for the Elderly Care’s Research and Development specialist Isam Yousef spoke on how behaviours affect social integration for mentally challenged individuals at the seminar.
“We are trying to ensure that people with mental disabilities are included in most activities such as sporting events and championship but what I aim to see are things that can be visible like seeing a high-functioning kid become fully integrated into the community,” he pointed out.
“It is important to believe in their integration as well as ensure parental training aside establishing an advocacy office that will call attention to any child being denied their rights. It is important to avoid excluding people with intellectual disabilities by not considering them when putting together criteria for events and social programmes,” he added.
A year-two student at the Georgetown University Sherif el-Gindi, who is wheelchair bound due to a congenital muscular disease, expressed satisfaction at the seminar saying: “I am very happy to see that this kind of movement is taking shape here in Qatar and I hope that it will be a successful one because I have never thought of the need for this kind of movement while in the US because such movement for people with disabilities have always been there for decades.”
