Combating coronavirus: Dubai Police steps up to help family with child of determination

The parents were apparently seeking permission wanting to take their daughter, Ruby, out on a bike ride.

In yet another act of kindness shown by the Dubai Police, a big thank you went out to the men in green, as Stephanie Hamilton, an expat mother with a special needs child conveyed her gratefulness for "their amazing care and attitude" in a Facebook post.
Hamilton in her post explained that her husband had applied for an emergency movement permit for their daughter who has a down syndrome and is autistic. The parents were apparently seeking permission wanting to take their daughter, Ruby, out on a bike ride to pacify her, which would have otherwise made her extremely unhappy.

But it's said their permit was rejected initially, as they later discovered it was applied under a wrong category.
On further suggestions, they even tweaked the permit settings to write "personal" followed by "emergency" and wrote "exercise for person of determination" against the reason for emergency.
But in the interim many several Good Samaritan had already tagged the Dubai police on the same post on her Instagram account. This resulted in a prompt response from the officers, one of whom called them up soon after.
They clarified to the couple that Parents of Determination need to write their description in detail explaining the situation as clearly as possible, without just plainly asking for an emergency permit.
Later the family was granted an hour long permit-but the family's subsequent four minutes bike ride left little Ruby thrilled for a long time!
Meanwhile, Stephanie while speaking to Khaleej Times, urges on behalf of many such parents, that it would be ideal to have more information on the matter and a visual indicator to help identify such people when out on road.
"it would be great to have an official channel through which we can understand the guidelines to be followed while applying for these permits--for parents like us who may have family members with special needs."
She further opines, "a lanyard or arm band would help others to understand that such residents venturing out amid the Covid-19 restrictions are not violators but have had to step outdoors due to compelling circumstances."
nandini@khaleejtimes.com 

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