The Kingdom will soon start implementation of a program to facilitate people with special needs.
It is a common practice that local administrations when planning infrastructure take into consideration requirements of people with special needs.
Given the importance of this issue, I would like to shed light on it. My interest in this subject is based on two things. First, I belong to this category of the physically handicapped and second, I am an expert and a judge in comprehensive easy access. For more than 10 years and during my presence abroad, I kept myself abreast of whatever concerned the handicapped around the world. While living abroad I never felt that I had any physical handicap. It was only after returning home that I once again got the feeling of being different from others.
While abroad, I used to self-serve myself. In many western countries, it not only the quality or quantity of arrangements that are in place, but rather the intellectual and cultural awareness in those societies that makes them perfect places for people with special needs to live in — a thing that we miss most in the Kingdom. However, the situation has changed now and the Kingdom is all set to introduce drastic changes to facilitate the physically handicapped or people with special needs.
But what is most important is the increase in public awareness and widespread understanding of this concept. The program addresses aspects relating to the movement and integration of people with special needs. It has been designed to cover needs of those who have any handicap, either permanent or temporary, either inherited or due to old age. Children of certain age or the seriously sick and injured are also treated as people with special needs.
In brief, anyone who has a reason that makes him in need of special equipment or arrangements to facilitate him doing his work or movement would benefit from this program.
Naturally, there will be obstacles. We are not talking about the bureaucracy but the whole issue is about public awareness and understanding the importance of this program. I am personally close to the recent developments in the Kingdom as far as outreach programs in this respect are concerned.
The present stage is heading toward making this program a Saudi code with high international standards. The idea behind deliberation in preparation of plans in such cases is that these plans are not experiments to be adjusted in case they fail, because when you launch a program you should be sure of its complete success or you should rather not launch it in the first place, because failure will mean delaying cultural development of the society.
