Olfat Gabani, head of the Social Responsibility Department at Jeddah Chamber of Commerce & Industry (JCCI) confirms that people with disabilities still face major problems when it comes to public facilities. She hopes new government policies will enable them to enjoy the same services that are open to fully mobile citizens.
The Saudization quota allows employers to count one disabled Saudi as four abled Saudi workers. Gabani’s department is one of the organizations working to boost the training opportunities for disabled people, allowing them to enter the workplace. She says she and her colleagues engage with employers to persuade them to provide a suitable working environment.
She also highlights the issue of low salaries paid to the disabled. Though she is pleased that the private sector is cooperative, she says there is still a need for companies to put more effort into creating the right conditions for disabled people, such as universal wheelchair access. Her department deals with all types of disabilities. It has for instance formed a Deaf Club that has so far provided jobs for some 100 hearing-impaired people.
Disabled people have varied reactions to the campaign to target them for employment. One 25-year-old by the name of Agarid who works at the JCCI deplores the system, believing that disabled people should not be treated as special cases but like any other citizen: “We are fed up with being treated as incapable or weak individuals. People fear we might be overloaded or give us pitying looks. That is not what we are looking for.”
Agarid blames her disability on the intermarriages of cousins, which she says had left her with a life-long disability. She has four years’ experience in administrative jobs, during which she has worked at different disability institutions and centers.
Husam Fada’ak, a 26-year-old disabled Saudi working at the National Guard Hospital however, believes the new system is the only way to encourage the private sector to “try and give the disabled people an opportunity.” He believes many businesses and organizations feared extra expense and would not have taken the risk of employing disabled people, unless the positive discrimination policy had existed.
The main job-finding challenge says Fada’ak is the lack of good training courses. This leaves individuals without qualifications and thus limited opportunities.
“The problem is that many disabled people do not know their rights, added to which companies do not want to depend on disabled people and do not even trust them. They remain skeptical about what disabled people can offer to their business.” They were thus often given work with only minor responsibilities.
He says that the best workplaces for the disabled are hospitals, which are already equipped to accommodate them: “When it comes to companies, employing disabled people is still something new and they do not for instance adapt their buildings for them.”
Finding a job for a disabled women is even more difficult since many do not have access to education because of a lack of facilities in schools. A case in point is that of Fawziya, a 36-year-old Saudi woman with poliomyelitis who was unable to study when young as her local school was not equipped for disabled people. The school to which she was moved was a little better. She recalls: “A lot of the classes were on the second floor and I was not able to go upstairs.” She has since taken a loan and started her own small beauty parlor business. Fawziya says she chose to be independent not least because her family is not well off and she did not want to be a burden on them. Fawziya moved to an apartment and divided it into two sections. She lives in one half with her three women employees. The other she has turned into a beauty center.
She says the income from the business currently hardly covers her own expenses and the employees’ wages. Nevertheless, more importantly she says: “It helps me go out and get in contact with people and do something in my life.
Afra’a is a 27-year-old with a physical disability as a result of medical treatment that went wrong. She works at the Disabled Children Association and is also registering at the sociology department at King Abdulaziz University.
She says she does not face any difficulties at her workplace as all the buildings are equipped for the disabled. One obstacle she does face, however, is when she visits banks; they are not equipped to serve disabled people.
Afra’a is now working for the “You are not Alone” Department of the Disabled Children Association which helps in the employment of disabled people. It functions as an intermediary between employers and disabled people.
According to her, more disabled men tend to ask for jobs compared to women: “Girls are more shy and more worried when it comes to the work environment. Some also do not want to work in mixed environments.”
Though Afra’a says her family built up her confidence, so that she could move normally from one place to the next in her university, work and social life, she still needs to be accompanied by a maid and a driver to facilitate her movements.
