UAE schoolgirl launches web site for disabled

The web site, called theequality.com, "was aimed at tackling different issues that are pertaining to people with special needs and their problems," Nada Jamal Al Amari, of Al Ain-based Al Wirood School, told Khaleej Times. This is in addition to, "integrating them in society and helping them achieve their aspirations and ambitions," she added.

Al Amari said: "I am totally against any form of discrimination against disabled people, and they should be treated equally by us, irrespective of their deformities. This is one of the reasons I have decided to construct this web site. Through the disabled people, I have learnt how to thank God for everything He gave us."

In an attempt to change society's attitude towards them, she added: "We should always see their abilities and not disabilities." One of Nada's dreams is to, "equip disabled people with computer technology so as to help them interact with their surroundings on their own."

The web site also reflects on "the different facilities and services offered by the public and private organisations in the UAE to this important segment of society under the visionary leadership of the President, His Highness Shaikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan," she said.

"The UAE has more than 10 centres that provide people who are physically or mentally challenged with education, rehabilitation, employment and medical care that are spread all over the country," the Grade 12 student added.

The cyberspace site gives definitions of different physical and mental disabilities and statistics about disabled people in the UAE. The web site was presented to the public as a part of the one-day seminar titled Rehabilitant and Employment of People with Special Needs in the UAE, which was organised recently by the Al Ain-based Centre for Rehabilitation and Employment of People with Special Needs, an affiliated body of the Ministry of Interior at Al Ain Rotanna Hotel, under the patronage of Shaikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Under-Secretary at the Ministry of Interior.