Jamila

Jamila Al Qasimi, “Improving the quality of life for people with disabilities is an unconditional commitment”

May 11, 2022

Her Excellency Sheikha Jamila bint Muhammad Al Qasimi, President of Sharjah City for Humanitarian Services (SCHS) and Editor-in-Chief of Al-Manal E-Magazine, has confirmed that the city depend in all that it offers to people with disabilities and society, on its vision, mission and strategic goals. These goals keep pace with standards of excellence, quality, efficiency, equality, diversity and knowledge production. This is in line with international best practices.

She said, “The city attaches great importance to the "quality of life of persons with disabilities". Since its establishment in 1979, the city has sought to develop quality services and programs. The city aims to include, advocate and empower persons with disabilities, in line with its vision and mission, and the wise directives of its honorary president, His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah”.

She explained that the city is aware of the impact of improving the quality of life on the harmony of humans with their society. She made a distinction between "quality of life" and "standard of living". The concept of standard of living refers to the physical and functional status of an individual. The concept of "quality of life" includes health, social and psychological aspects and the presence of basic services that enable people to live at an appropriate level.

This came within the editorial of issue 370 of Al-Manal electronic magazine, which Sharjah City for Humanitarian Services has been publishing monthly since May 1987. Her Highness Sheikha Jameela bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, Director General of the City, is the Editor-in-Chief of Al Manal Magazine.

Editor-in-Chief of Al Manal Magazine added, “The city has worked to raise the level of people’s awareness of the concept of quality of life and the importance of highlighting the latest developments and scientific and practical, educational and rehabilitation practices. In addition to providing new knowledge that allows the possibility of sharing experiences and proposing appropriate solutions”.

She explained that people should take the basic rights of inclusion, education, full participation, decision-making and self-determination of persons with disabilities for granted. However, achieving these rights on the round faces many challenges around the world. Therefore, the city has been demanding these rights in words and actions. The city has called for their preservation and implementation.

She said, “As Al-Manal enters its thirty-sixth year, we seize this opportunity to renew our pledge and commitment to improving and facilitating the quality of life for persons with disabilities, developing the abilities and talents they possess, and employing them to achieve the desired results on the personal and societal levels. Improving the quality of life of persons with disabilities is a clear evidence of the progress and development of society”.

She mentioned, for example, some of the steps taken by the city to complete its long journey in improving the quality of life for people with disabilities in accordance with international best practices.

In March of 2017, the city organized an Assistive Technology Conference. The conference message revolved around securing equal opportunities in an inclusive city. One of its goals was to provide specialists with appropriate data that would help adjust the pace of life for persons with disabilities. She emphasized the need to continue development and innovation to provide the best possible of the technologies that facilitate the lives of persons with disabilities, enhance their independence and contribute to improving their quality of life.

On the eighth and ninth of March 2022, the city organized its virtual international conference “Quality of Life for Persons with Severe and Multiple Disabilities” in cooperation with the Hashemite University of Jordan. A number of academics, specialists and doctors participated in the conference. It represented a turning point within the Arab region and the world in serving people with severe and multiple disabilities and their families.

About a month before that, the city organized the "Quality of Inclusive Education Forum", in continuation of the city's march, which since 1995 has called for the inclusion of blind and hearing-impaired persons within public schools until achieving this. It was also keen to demand the provision of accessibility in the environment to achieve the full integration of people with motor disabilities by enabling them to move around freely. Then, since 2006, the city has integrated people with intellectual disabilities and autism spectrum disorder into public schools.  City's specialists and supervisors have been following up them periodically in order to ensure the success of the integration and achieving the best results. In 2017, the city established Inclusive Education Unit because it firmly believe that inclusion is not only a special education model, but rather a method of thinking and practice that includes all members of society.

Finally, Her Excellency Sheikha Jamila bint Muhammad Al Qasimi congratulated Al Manal's friends, writers and readers on the entry of their magazine into a new year. .  The publication has been and will always aim at educating the Arab family, providing it with information, theoretical, and applied knowledge as well as training programs and raising their health awareness.