By Salman Siddiqui/Staff Reporter
Access to higher education and job opportunities are the biggest challenges for the deaf community in Qatar and the entire Arab world, Qatar Cultural & Social Centre for the Deaf chairman Ali Obaid al-Sanari has said.
In an interview to Gulf Times, which was translated from sign language into Arabic and then English with the help of two interpreters, al-Sanari wholeheartedly thanked the Qatari government for its “limitless support” but also highlighted the fact that a lot more still needed to be done.
His dreams for a better world for the deaf community in Qatar are achievable. All he was striving for, he said, were simple things like access to a quality education, use of sign language in all TV programmes, special sign language desks/interpreters at all government institutions, etc. “All such steps are very important, which, if implemented immediately, would actually complement Qatar’s aspirations for hosting the mega event, the 2022 FIFA World Cup,” he said.
At the moment, the opportunities for deaf persons are limited. “In Qatar, the education level offered (to the deaf community) is only till high school. There is no education at the university level for us in Qatar,” he pointed out, adding that those among the community who aspired for more education could only fulfil their dreams by travelling abroad.
The second-most important challenge is the lack of job opportunities, even if somehow one managed to get a university education.
He stressed again on the point for higher education later during his talk at the Al Jazeera/Qatar Charity forum on the challenges faced by the deaf community in the Arab world.
He said higher education was a right for the deaf people, too, the lack of which was hampering their job prospects.
“Policies in the Arab world overall are weak when it comes to education for the deaf. Have you ever come across a deaf person who works as a director in some organisation? No, because the deaf community suffers from its inability to attain a university-level education.”
In the interview, al-Sanari also pointed out another major obstacle. “We are unable to communicate with people directly in key government ministries and with government officials (because of lack of interpreters there). There has been some improvement in this area, but still there is a lot more that can be done.”
Also, there is a dire need for the parents of deaf persons to learn sign languages themselves.
“In Europe, parents are required to learn the sign language, but, unfortunately, in our part of the world, things are done quite differently,” he said.
The chairman of the centre has an inspiring story of his own, which people from the deaf community can refer to in order to achieve big goals in life
Speaking about his own struggle in life, al-Sanari said in the past, he would get depressed about his situation because he felt “helpless”. “At the same time, however, there was something inside me that wanted to do something for myself and others like me.
“When I saw people around me achieving so many things, I too wanted to do the same, regardless of my disabilities. By Allah’s grace, I feel that today, I’ve accomplished a lot. I’m now a professional international lecturer for the deaf community and also offer a lot of training sessions and workshops to them,” he said.
The Qatar Cultural & Social Centre for the Deaf is the first of its kind in the country, specialising in caring for people with audio disability in the fields of education, awareness, entertainment, sports etc.
The programmes and interests of the centre cover all groups of people with audio disability, including men and women, regardless of their nationality and age. It is located in Al Mamourah.
