JEDDAH, 20 June 2003 — The Jeddah center of the Disabled Children’s Association recently held its first introductory meeting for social workers helping people with special needs. Its purpose? To help build a network and communication channels for all social workers in the various institutions that work with disabled people.
“The goal of the meeting, which will become regular, is to allow a continuous exchange of experience and information among the social workers dealing with disabled children and adults,” Dr. Zuhair Maymani, the director of the Jeddah Center of the Disabled Children’s Association, told Arab News.
The Jeddah center opened four years ago. A big facility, it includes a medical section and an educational section that focuses on integrating disabled children with healthy children in the early years of their education.
“We visit schools to see how they can become an environment suitable to children with special needs,” said Basma Al-Jawhari, a social worker at DCA. “The principal of the school is usually apprehensive about having a disabled child in her school, but we try to provide the necessary facilities such as wheelchair access, larger doorways and special bathroom seats and make periodic visits to the school and talk to the students in order to make the school as convenient and friendly to the disabled child as possible,” she said.
The center also includes a residential area for day-care that trains parents to provide proper home care for their disabled child, and refers children who need surgery to the hospitals that perform them.
“The media plays an important role in educating people and presenting a positive image of the disabled as part of society,” said Basma. She is currently preparing a program with Saudi Television on family life with a disabled child in a simple and approachable way.
There are several institutions that care for, treat, and rehabilitate people with special needs, but most of them are not aware of each other and the type of services and facilities available in other centers, which can prevent a disabled person and their family from receiving comprehensive care.
The meeting was arranged for the social workers in this field because they play an important role in the life of the disabled and are the link between them and the various institutions serving them. The meeting sought to establish an information network for all the specialists and develop programs for all the institutions to cooperate in, each according to their area of experience.
A new idea that is beginning to take shape at the center is a support group for people with special needs and their families. The group will be an informal guidance club where disabled people and their families can meet and reach out to each other.
“The club will be under the supervision of DCA and it will be based on volunteer work,” said Donya Bin Ali, a social worker and public relations director of the club. “We will be involved in early intervention, recreational activities and social rehabilitation.”
In Saudi Arabia, disabled people of all ages can find themselves excluded and disengaged from the rest of society. The organizers hope that a support group will enable them to find companionship and understanding. “There will be a hotline, counseling, evaluation, lectures, medical checkups and genetic history,” said Suad Qandeel, a psychological and behavioral rehabilitation specialist who will be volunteering at the club. “We want to help the disabled and their families overcome social problems and misconceptions.”
