In the building where my office is situated, there is a young man who inspires me — every time I see him leaving his car in the morning, hanging out with his friends during breaks, or going home at the end of the day. He comes, goes, and moves around on his wheelchair, challenging his disability, actually, beating it and deciding to be part of life, going through its ups and downs despite all difficulties.
Such courage makes you wonder if we are doing everything in our capacity to enable this valuable segment of our society to integrate. The movement to give those with special needs some of their basic rights such as parking lots, ease of access to buildings and public spaces has just started in the last few years. But still, the situation is far from satisfactory. Sometimes the infrastructure and rules are there but they are neither followed nor respected.
You want examples. Check out any place with a disabled parking lot; there are very few who respect or even understand the concept of making a preferred parking lot available for those who truly need it. In one of the malls in north of Jeddah, I remember a group of young men who did not hesitate to park their car on a parking spot dedicated to the disabled. When the driver stepped out of the car, I pointed to the parking sign just above his head. He checked it out, turned around, waved his hands and said: “It won’t be long, and there are a lot of free spaces around here anyway!”
There are other examples of poor designs. In one of the most attractive restaurants spot in the city, you can find the disabled entrances on the curb all available and handy, but they won’t be able to visit many restaurants in the area, because in a stroke of genius by the designer, many of these restaurants would require using stairs to access them!
Now compare that to a lot of developed countries in the West or in the East, and it won’t be hard to conclude that we are still taking our initial steps on a long road. In the United States, for example, you cannot help but notice that there are lot of people on wheelchairs and electrical cars moving around. Everything has been prepared to accommodate their movement; in buildings, restaurants, theme parks, etc. The disabled parking lot is sacred, most restaurants do have special doors for the disabled that open automatically and an elevator if needed and they would have priority in accessing any attractions or entertainment show seating. To put it simply, they are well integrated in the public life.
For us in the Kingdom, any discussions to fix the situation would lead us to the most common themes of moderation we usually end up with; regulations and public awareness. The government has taken some good initiatives in this regard, especially when it comes to employing those with special needs, connecting their hiring with attractive incentives in the Saudization program. But still, that’s not enough. Regulations to provide them with the required medical assistance and to ease their integration in the public life are still desperately needed.
Rigorous public awareness of their rights should follow; they have the same right to access any business or entertainment venue as anyone else; not parking in their lots is not a nice gesture, it is a rule; preparing for their easy access, exit, and movement is not a generosity in the design, it is a pre-requisite to approve the whole project.
We, simply, owe them these basics, so they can feel that they belong, that their contribution to the society is vital.
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@smaldosari
