The photo has been used for illustrative purposes.

Jamil Khan, Senior Reporter

As an annual event, Al Amal School for the Deaf that is an affiliate of Sharjah City for Humanitarian Services (SCHS) is organising 44 Week of the Deaf that started on April 21. The activities will end on April 27.

The week-long activities including workshops, awareness sessions and others are being carried out under the theme ‘Forcing government agencies and its affiliates to employ persons with hearing impairment’.

The school has organised a brainstorming session at Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Abdullah Ibrahim Al Zaabi, Director of Branches Affairs at the Human Resources Department in Sharjah, Samira Abed Rabbo, Secretary of Persons with the Abilities Council, and Heba Al-Hamrani, Director of the Department of Administrative and Financial Affairs in SCHS, were the speakers.  

Dr Abdul Salam Al Hammadi, from Sharjah TV, co-hosted the session. A large number of persons with hearing impairment, their parents, and the people working with them attended the session.

The session has witnessed an interactive discussion about the reality of persons with hearing impairment in the light of Week of the Deaf theme. Participants presented their viewpoints about this topic and the reality of job placement for persons with hearing impairment in public and private institutions in UAE.

Al Amal School for the Deaf student Zakaria Said Salim Al-Hamaydeh delivered a speech in which he confirmed that the Arab Federation of Deaf Organisations has chosen a theme to address this celebration this year. The theme summarises a series of themes and demands that the deaf community presented more than once on many occasions and a similar celebration. These demands need to transform from being merely a cry to gain people’s sympathy to become practical implementation of one of the basic rights of the deaf community. The 44 Week of the Deaf theme “Forcing public bodies to employ persons with hearing impairment” summarises these demands.