Tour Towards Knowledge – Fadi Abu Shakra

Issues of the rights of persons with disabilities are among the most important issues of society, it is the right of persons with disabilities to find equal opportunities with all members of society, which requires a set of efforts such as harmonization and enhance their participation in society, in addition to the implementation of the Palestinian Disabled Rights Law No. 4 of 1999.

From here we set out on one of the stops of “Keef Shaifha” tour, which is implemented by Wasla Center for Digital Advocacy, of the Social Development Forum, and in this tour, we learned about the role of the Ministry of Social Development in this aspect.

At half-past eleven, we arrived at Al Mathaf hotel, to speak with representatives of the ministry, with the aim of holding a hearing about persons with disabilities, that was on Monday the fifteenth of March, the atmosphere of great enthusiasm spread among the youth, a positive atmosphere, activity, energy, and strength.

The session was on the second floor, in this room we received Wasla training a few weeks ago, this matter left a great positive impact on us, we felt that the place is our second home, we started the listening session, and our colleague Amira started the dialogue process by introducing herself and the program.

Professor Ghassan Felfel attended the ministry, kindly talking about the services provided by the Ministry of Social Development for people with disabilities in general, and also talked about the services provided by the ministry to people with disabilities during the period of the Corona epidemic and the size of the difficulties faced by its work, and how it dealt with the needs of people with disabilities in quarantine centers.

Felfel spoke frankly when he told us that the team is not trained to deal with the Corona crisis, and that he is not trained to deal with emergency plans in such cases, but according to his speech, the response from the ministry was excellent.

Professor Ghassan ended his speech here, and the youth of “Keef Shaifha” tour began asking questions to him. The dialogue was very wonderful, and the atmosphere was very enthusiastic. The youth’s questions revolved around the stressful measures taken by the Ministry of Social Development to facilitate the access of persons with disabilities to relief services, and health services related to sterilization tools, since the ministry is the government agency most in contact with the needs of people with disabilities in light of the Corona pandemic.

We also asked about the Ministry’s work mechanism in light of the Corona epidemic, so that Felfel spoke and answered the questions of the youth, and talked about the data of persons with disabilities at the ministry and the process of networking between the ministry and civil society institutions, in addition to implementing joint projects and initiatives between them. As he also discussed with Wasla’s youth who are with disabilities the challenges and problems facing them, that are directly related to the Ministry of Social Development.

At the end of the meeting, “Wasla” youth presented a set of recommendations to the Ministry of Social Development that spoke fully about persons with disabilities within the Palestinian society, the ministry’s work and the services provided to them, and how to facilitate their access to it. They also talked about the importance of training the ministry’s employees the sign language.

In their recommendations, the youth stressed the need to strengthen communication between the ministry and civil society institutions, hold sessions and meetings with youth, and other recommendations that we hope the ministry will absorb in preparing and implementing its future plans.