DUBAI // Stephanie Hamilton had to try more than 40 schools before her daughter Ruby, 9, who has Down syndrome, was accepted.
Mrs Hamilton is one of many Dubai residents who say educational support for the disabled needs to be improved.
The mother of three has set up a Facebook page called I Am Me to tell the stories, through photographs, of families living with a disability. It has gathered more than 1,000 likes.
“The biggest challenge is walking into a school and saying your disabled child wants to attend,” said Mrs Hamilton, a Canadian. “I had upwards of 40 rejections despite the fact she had gone to a mainstream school in New Zealand.
Each year, the Hamiltons, who live in Al Manara, pay about Dh100,000 for Ruby’s education at Horizon International School, which includes a support teacher and therapy.
“Many parents do not want to talk about the huge financial burden that goes with that in Dubai.”
The emirate’s Government does want to talk about the issues. On Sunday it hosted the first day of a two-day think-tank at which experts from around the globe will run workshops on how to make Dubai more socially inclusive.
The Dubai Inclusive Development Forum, being held at Madinat Jumeirah, is part of the Government’s My Community initiative to aid Dubai’s growth towards becoming more inclusive by 2020.
The forum participants include an expert from New York, which is one of the cities globally that have set a benchmark for making provisions for those with disabilities.
“We have to change the culture and mentality towards people with a disability,” said Abdullah Al Shaibani, vice chairman of the Higher Committee for the Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Part of the My Community Initiative is to have more people with disabilities considered for key roles in the private sector.
One of the businesses already on board is the Emirates NBD Group. It has an inclusion programme called Together Limitless and works with Manzil, a Sharjah non-profit educational centre for people with disabilities, to ensure it gets the details right.
One of Manzil’s students, Nilofar Saleem, has successfully taken a job with NBD.
“It is really overwhelming when you see what students can do to achieve their potential when given an opportunity,” said Dr Ayesha Husaini, founder and director of Manzil.
“Nilofar has made us all very proud of what she has achieved. It has been a long journey but it is down to her.”
nwebster@thenational.ae
