The “Hear my Voice -
Empowering the Deaf” Conference was concluded at the “Mohammed Bin Rashid
Academic Medical Center” at “Dubai Healthcare City”, in cooperation with
“Kalimati Speech and Communication Center”, and the “UAE Deaf Association”, with
the support of the “Telecommunication Regulatory Authority”.
The Conference, held
under the patronage of his Excellency Sheikh “Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan”,
Minister of Culture, Youth, and Community Development, stressed on the
importance of integrating deaf persons and those who suffer from hearing
impairment into the community, through the provision of education and job
opportunities, social inclusion, and the recognition of their sign language.
The Conference addressed topics on the vocational training for the deaf,
reading strategies, supporting deaf women, their rights, and the challenges
that they face in the community and in institutions in the fields of education,
work, communication, and different services. It also included workshops on sign
language used in the UAE, in the presence of experts and a number of deaf persons,
who achieved successes in their lives. The audience included local and private
federal authorities concerned with special need persons in general, and the
deaf in particular.
The Conferees
attached importance to the agreement on the rights of special need persons and
its role in empowering the deaf and teaching them in the Arab world, through
conditioning the curricula and academic classes in integrated schools,
addressing the challenges and the transition plan for deaf students, and
reading strategies, in addition to language and communication challenges.
The Conference is
part of the activities held by the authorities working with the deaf in the
Arab world each year, during the last week of April, which is called the “Deaf
Week”, and is considered the week of rights and a comprehensive media event to
identify deafness and prevention.
The “Arabian Union of
whom deals with Deafs” decided to choose “The Sports of the Deaf” as the slogan
of the (39th) “Arab Deaf Week” for (2014), in order to identify the
deaf, their abilities, the methods of raising and rehabilitating them, and the
channels of linguistic and speaking and sign communication with their peers and
community members, in addition to directing the different media to shed light
on their basic, health, educational, psychological, economic, and
rehabilitative rights. It also aims to enable deaf persons and those with
hearing impairment and their associations to play an effective and positive
role in the sustainable and comprehensive social and economic development.
The intellectual
awareness in the UAE contributed to the development and activation of the role
of this category in the community. For instance, girls from the “UAE Committee
of Sports for the Deaf” of the “U.A.E Disabled Sports Federation” won the first
three positions, at the conclusion of the “Table Tennis Championship for the
Deaf - Females”, with the participation of (10) female players.
“Abduallah Ismail Al
Kamali”, Secretary General of the “UAE Deaf Association”, emphasized the
importance of the committees’ work to communicate with the deaf, and overcome
the obstacles they face in their daily life, calling for the heads of the committees
to take the initiative to develop ideas and suggestions that aim to raise the productivity
of the deaf, and integrate them in the community. “Al Kamali” announced the
allocation of an annual award for the best committee in the field of events, activities,
and initiatives related to addressing the challenges that face the deaf in the society.
The heads of the deaf
committees in the different parts of the State participated in the “Thank You
Khalifa” initiative, which his Highness Sheikh “Mohammed Bin Rashid Al
Maktoum”,Vice President, Prime Minister, Ruler of “Dubai”, called for, as they
translated the phrase “Thank You Khalifa” into the sign language in a video
clip, in which they expressed their thanks to his Highness Sheikh “Khalifa Bin
Zayed Al Nahyan”, the President of the UAE, and to inform the deaf people
around the world that the Emirati deaf are all blessed under the umbrella of a
wise leadership.
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