Hurry up and help us

Champion of the disabled is aiming to raise public awareness about the need to increase help for those with special needs.

ABU DHABI // An inspirational speaker with disabilities is aiming to raise public awareness about the need to increase help for those with special needs. Nada al Bustani, who spoke at the recent Women's Health Conference, said that although great strides had been made to make life easier for people with special needs, the Government should be doing more. "I am glad that the UAE is one of those countries that have put in a law to assist those people with special needs. The only problem I see is that implementation is taking a lot of time. It is a priority but priority 20, or maybe 100."

One of the problems of many people with disabilities, she said, is that they live in a culture of shame, and because of it they often keep to themselves. Ms al Bustani, who was born with a disorder called osteogenesis imperfecta and has been unable to walk since birth, said that when she goes to malls strangers will stare, or approach her to say they hope God can cure her. "You will get people looking at you as if you don't know how to talk, speak or think. But that is only a perception they have."

Public awareness is her main priority. Because many people with disabilities are embarrassed by their condition, they do not regularly interact with others. "They group together in special communities because they can't handle the looks and stuff but they are human beings," Ms al Bustani said. "We need to be part of society, not alienated from it." Laws in the UAE are not strong enough and often not enforced, she said. "In Wafi one of the disabled parking spots is so small it only fits a car, and barely. They didn't think through how a person with disabilities could get out."

It is important not just to follow European standards, she said, but to make sure the laws that are in place help disabled Emiratis. The key, she said, is to allow people with disabilities to interact directly with the Government. "It is fine having laws put in place for people with disabilities but we need to have people with disabilities evaluating them and making sure that they are implemented. I'd like to have a body made up of disabled people, of all varieties, who actually go and make sure that laws and regulations in place are working for us."

She also wants quotas for disabled people in the workplace that would help integrate them into society. She feels the biggest problem is that people with disabilities are seen as different, and that it is assumed they cannot care for themselves. "I don't want to label myself," she said, "because at the end of it all I am a human being."
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