Hire people with special needs, employers urged

Dubai - According to the United Nations, more than 1 billion people in the world live with some form of disability

An initiative that will boost the inclusion of people with cognitive disabilities in the workplace was launched in Dubai on Wednesday.
Called 'Careers Network', the programme was initiated by Emirates NBD under its #TogetherLimitless advocacy campaign. It seeks to enlist work-ready individuals from schools and care centres and facilitate their employment in the public and private sector.
The process will include building a database of potential candidates, interviewing and assessing their readiness, assisting them in the placement process and shadowing them in the first months of their employment to ensure workplace integration.
"Moving towards a right-based approach for the employment of people with disabilities demands collaborative effort among all sectors, public, private and NGOs to ensure equity, accommodations and accessibility measures (is the thrust of Careers Network)," said Dr Shaikha Alia Al Qasimi, acting CEO of social care and development sector at the Community Development Authority (CDA).
She added that although the UAE has a clear legal framework detailed in Dubai Disability Strategy 2020, there is still no actual database of people with disabilities.
According to the United Nations, more than 1 billion people in the world live with some form of disability. In the UAE, this concern is expected to be of greater concern in the future because its prevalence is on the rise, according to Careers Network.
Special schools and care centres in the UAE are also facing challenges like high operational cost and lack of student services beyond the age of 18.
Organisers of Careers Network said: "People with disability represent a talented, untapped labour market ... the greatest barrier and inequalities in the workplace is finding the opportunity and developing an integration plan."
But Majid Abdulla Al Usaimi, executive director of Dubai Club for the Disabled, said more opportunities are available now because persons with disabilities (PWDs) have proven their capabilities.
"We first joined in Paralympics in 1996 then we trained harder - three times a day, six times a week, including Ramadan - for the next games in Sydney, where we got four medals - the first ever medals by the UAE in the Olympics and Paralympics," he said.
"We were all over the newspaper headlines. We became famous for raising the UAE flag and we used that popularity to get recognition from society and to show people what we can do if we gain equal rights," Al Usaimi emphasised.
angel@khaleejtimes.com

• UAE