DUBAI // Ahmed al Rifli plans to break down taboos on his new television talk show Daftar, including one that is very close to home.
The 22-year-old presenter and University of Sharjah student, who is blind, is a rarity in Emirati society, let alone on the small screen a special-needs person in the public eye.
Two of his brothers, out of seven siblings, are also blind. He believes that somewhere in his lineage consanguinity, or intermarriage, may be to blame.
It is a topic he plans to tackle in an upcoming episode of his weekly magazine show, the first aimed at an audience f Emirati students. Launched in January, it is shown across the country live each Sunday at 8pm on the recently launched free-to-air channel Al Dafrah TV.
"I don't know much about this but I have been doing some reading as I want to find out more," he said. "It is something we will talk about on my show. The younger generation don't intermarry so much these days but for many years, people didn't know anything about the problems of intermarriage."
Dr Chris Canning, the chief executive at Moorfields Eye Hospital in Dubai, believes that blindness caused by genetic diseases is much more prevalent here than in other parts of the world, "due to both cousin marriages and the large size of families".
However, there has not been extensive enough research to quantify this, he said.
"Since I've been here, I've seen around 50 families with members affected over the last 18 months or so," he said.
With his new high profile, Mr al Rifli hopes he can do his part to spark change in Emirati society, where people with special needs and disabilities are seldom seen in public, let alone hold jobs. They just need to be given the chance, he said.
"The Government are trying to solve this problem and support people with special needs," he said. "They think they can't do anything. They don't have the support to keep going. The family don't encourage them to live a normal life, they just keep them at home."
Adel al Zamar, the vice president for the Emirates Association of the Blind, said that Rifli would be an inspiration for other youngsters with disabilities.
Mr al Zamar was exposed to Mr al Rifli's talents years ago when he began hosting events and giving speeches for the organisation.
"There are some problems getting people to work, especially in the media but for people like Ahmed, he can hold the challenge," Mr al Zamar said.
"The law here changed recently which protects the rights of blind people, giving them opportunities to work and study and Ahmed is a great example of this. We'd like to see many more people like him in many fields, not just the media."
The stigma for people with special needs is not unique to the Emirates, but is a problem across the Arab world, said Mr al Rifli. He believes it starts with the lack of integration in schools with other children and ends up in the workplace.
"If you're special-needs, that means you can't think? There is no culture here for this and no contact with special-needs kids," he said.
Mr al Rifli got started in broadcasting just last year when he worked on a poetry show on the Arabic satellite channel Nojoom TV. Before that he was a presenter on Noor Dubai radio, a news and social affairs station focusing on youth issues, which is where he first embraced his disability and began addressing specific issues facing those with special needs and where people began to respond.
It was "very popular" he said, people feeling suddenly as if there was something out there for them.
"It wasn't just good for those with special needs but it helps to educate people about it. It's also interesting for those people who work with them, to hear their perspective in a more social forum."
He pitched the idea for Daftar, which means book, to the channel himself last year, arguing that there was a demand for a topical show for and about special-needs students.
Al Rifli attended the Dubai Handicapped School until he was 10, when he was one of three blind students to be integrated into high school classes at Al Emarat and Al Maarif. Such integration is a goal of the Ministry of Education, which announced in October that over the next three years it would equip 60 schools across the country with facilities to accommodate children with special needs.
The Ministry said almost half of the schools would be ready to accept pupils next year.
Mr al Rifli's experience was proof enough for him that integration works, benefiting both the children with special needs and the able-bodied, who would otherwise have little or no contact with special-needs individuals.
"We were like a new challenge for the children," he said, smiling. "It was great fun."
It was not until the post-secondary level that he began to struggle in education, spending an unhappy year fending for himself at the American University of Dubai.
"Nobody could help me," he said. "There were no volunteers to help me with reading in exams, I didn't get extra time or any make-up classes, so I changed my university."
His situation greatly improved after he moved to the University of Sharjah, where he is in his second year earning a degree in public relations and communications.
As for his show, Mr al Rifli said he will have no trouble coming up with ideas. "You will never run out of topics with students," he said.
mswan@thenational.ae
PROFILE BOX
Company name: Overwrite.ai
Founder: Ayman Alashkar
Started: Established in 2020
Based: Dubai International Financial Centre, Dubai
Sector: PropTech
Initial investment: Self-funded by founder
Funding stage: Seed funding, in talks with angel investors
RESULT
Liverpool 4 Southampton 0
Jota (2', 32')
Thiago (37')
Van Dijk (52')
Man of the match: Diogo Jota (Liverpool)
Scorebox
Dubai Sports City Eagles 7 Bahrain 88
Eagles
Try: Penalty
Bahrain
Tries: Gibson 2, Morete 2, Bishop 2, Bell 2, Behan, Fameitau, Sanson, Roberts, Bennett, Radley
Cons: Radley 4, Whittingham 5
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
The Bio
Name: Lynn Davison
Profession: History teacher at Al Yasmina Academy, Abu Dhabi
Children: She has one son, Casey, 28
Hometown: Pontefract, West Yorkshire in the UK
Favourite book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Favourite Author: CJ Sansom
Favourite holiday destination: Bali
Favourite food: A Sunday roast
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
The biog
Name: Atheja Ali Busaibah
Date of birth: 15 November, 1951
Favourite books: Ihsan Abdel Quddous books, such as “The Sun will Never Set”
Hobbies: Reading and writing poetry
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Winners
Best Men's Player of the Year: Kylian Mbappe (PSG)
Maradona Award for Best Goal Scorer of the Year: Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)
TikTok Fans’ Player of the Year: Robert Lewandowski
Top Goal Scorer of All Time: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
Best Women's Player of the Year: Alexia Putellas (Barcelona)
Best Men's Club of the Year: Chelsea
Best Women's Club of the Year: Barcelona
Best Defender of the Year: Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus/Italy)
Best Goalkeeper of the Year: Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG/Italy)
Best Coach of the Year: Roberto Mancini (Italy)
Best National Team of the Year: Italy
Best Agent of the Year: Federico Pastorello
Best Sporting Director of the Year: Txiki Begiristain (Manchester City)
Player Career Award: Ronaldinho
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
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2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
Points about the fast fashion industry Celine Hajjar wants everyone to know
- Fast fashion is responsible for up to 10 per cent of global carbon emissions
- Fast fashion is responsible for 24 per cent of the world's insecticides
- Synthetic fibres that make up the average garment can take hundreds of years to biodegrade
- Fast fashion labour workers make 80 per cent less than the required salary to live
- 27 million fast fashion workers worldwide suffer from work-related illnesses and diseases
- Hundreds of thousands of fast fashion labourers work without rights or protection and 80 per cent of them are women
The Brutalist
Director: Brady Corbet
Stars: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn
Rating: 3.5/5
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As it stands in Pool A
1. Japan - Played 3, Won 3, Points 14
2. Ireland - Played 3, Won 2, Lost 1, Points 11
3. Scotland - Played 2, Won 1, Lost 1, Points 5
Remaining fixtures
Scotland v Russia – Wednesday, 11.15am
Ireland v Samoa – Saturday, 2.45pm
Japan v Scotland – Sunday, 2.45pm
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Apple product price list
iPad Pro
11" - $799 (64GB)
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MacBook Air
$1,199
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Tom Fletcher on 'soft power'
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
