Workshop highlights best practices to ensure workplace accessibility

Qatar Assistive Technology Centre (Mada) hosted a workshop during its partnership with the recently held Accessible Qatar Conference at Doha Exhibition and Convention Centre.
The workshop included an educational session on ‘Strategies and Best Practices for Creating Accessible Work Environments’ in line with its “efforts to empower persons with disabilities (PWDs) through assistive technology”, it said in a statement.
The Accessible Qatar Conference was the “first of its kind” in the region and provided knowledge-sharing in order to create awareness and explore the importance of accessibility for all patrons.
On May 9, during the conference, the educational workshop highlighted the best practices and strategies for ensuring that a workplace is accessible to employees and visitors with different disabilities. Discussions also included the importance of e-Accessibility when it comes to creating accessible work environments and the social impact of employing people with disabilities in meaningful and inclusive roles.
Speakers during the session included a number of Mada employees.
“At Mada, we aim to educate the wider community about the importance of assistive technology and how much it can change the lives of persons with disabilities. Our workshop and partnership with Accessible Qatar allowed us to showcase how inclusion can be made possible through accessible work environments and the use of e-Accessibility. Employment is one of the main areas we believe can empower persons with disabilities and we are committed to ensuring inclusive and professional communities are created, to welcome people with various disabilities in all sorts of environments. The conference was a great opportunity to promote smart technologies, which enable and foster universal accessibility,” said Maha al-Mansouri, CEO of Mada.
Mada believes that providing access to workspaces empowers people with different disabilities to overcome social, economic and cultural barriers that have traditionally marginalised them. The importance of the right to employment is in fact enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities.