AL WAFA SCHOOL FOR CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZES THE FIRST CAMP FOR SELF-ADVOCACY
As part of its celebrations of International Day of Persons with Disabilities, Al Wafa School for Capacity Development organized the first camp for self-advocacy. It aims at training students on the concept of self-advocacy and raise people’s awareness of their issues and rights in order to include, advocate, and empower them.
The Self-advocate Sheikha Al-Qasimi, Representative of self-advocates of Inclusion International for the Middle East and North Africa MENA, ran a dialogue session during which she defined the meaning of advocacy and the importance of creating a strong generation of self-advocates throughout empowerment, training, and networking via social activities. In addition, the society should assist their supporters and families by providing them with new skills.
Sheikha Al-Qasimi talked about her experience as a self-advocate, confirming that self-advocates are people with intellectual disabilities who have sufficient independence and are able to proclaim their rights and the rights of their peers. It is the duty of society to respect these rights out of a complete understanding of the independence of persons with intellectual disabilities and their ability to blend in.
Then, the two self-advocates, Muhammad Khalfan and Yasmine Suleiman gave a presentation of their experience in self-advocacy. They talked about the rights of persons with disabilities in general, especially their rights to health care, employment, and education. For their turn, the trainees on self-advocacy from persons with intellectual disabilities acted in a set of scenes representing these rights.
Mr. Abdel Nasser Darwish, Deputy Director of Al Wafa School (Ramalah Branch) delivered a lecture on self-advocacy and the role of individuals and institutions in supporting and empowering persons with disabilities in accordance with the best international practices and emphasizing their best interests when supporting them in making decisions related to them.
Mr. Abdel Nasser has mentioned Sharjah City for Humanitarian Services (SCHS) leading role in establishing the concept of self-advocacy since 2009 as an approach to face ignorance and imposing guardianship on persons with disabilities and defending their rights to discuss their issues, participate in planning policies and strategies, and making decisions related to their lives without guardianship or enforcement.
The first self-advocacy camp included a group of arts, sports, and informative workshops. In addition, the camp invited parents to contribute to enable their children to become self-advocates able to claim their rights in all forums based on justice and equality.