Sharjah 24: As part of marking the 46th Arab Deaf Week, Al Amal School for the Deaf of the Sharjah City for Human Services has virtually organised a forum under the slogan “The Deaf in facing the challenges of Coronavirus), with the participation of a group of specialists and experts in the fields of hearing impairment from inside and outside the country who enriched the forum with valuable working papers, that discussed experiences in facing Covid-19, during which the exchange of experiences, building partnerships, and strengthening and activating the role of the deaf in their societies were addressed.
In her opening speech at the event, Sheikha Jameela bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, Director General of Sharjah City for Humanitarian Services, congratulated people with hearing disabilities, institutions and bodies working with the deaf and hard of hearing people on the 46th Arab Deaf Week, which the city celebrated virtually and during which it outlined the challenges that faced the Deaf’s march in the Arab world over the past period.
She emphasised that what was most missed in the city during the period of Corona and the isolation imposed was the exchange of signals in the corridors of the Al Amal School for the Deaf which is the nucleus of Sharjah City for Humanitarian Services, and the face-to-face meeting with people of hearing disabilities, talking to them about their ambitions, activities and upcoming plans after switching to virtual education.
Sheikha Jameela said: “With the determination of our team, the wheel of education has not stopped one day since the beginning of the pandemic, as Al Amal School for the Deaf has been chosen by Microsoft as a model school in implementing its programmes in education over the past five years and among the first schools that entered into the smart learning project in the country, which allowed us to be on the same path with high readiness to face this circumstance and to continue the learning process, along with delivering the rest of the city’s services to all beneficiaries.
She highlighted the challenges faced by the school team and its students and how they faced in an effective and professional manner, hence the idea of the forum within the activities of the Arab Deaf Week was highlighted by organising the forum under the slogan (Let Dialogue) to discuss these challenges, options and solutions available to enable the deaf and hard of hearing people wherever they are in light of the rapid changes in the world.
Sheikha Jameela thanked those working with deaf and hard of hearing people in the Arab world for their great concern for the benefit of deaf people in all respects, and singled out the honourable educator Afaf Al Haridi, director of Al Amal School for the Deaf, who has been one of the first employees in the city since its inception in 1979 providing everything within her capacity and keeping pace with every development and new in this regard.
In conclusion, Sheikha Jameela Al Qasimi wished that the forum would constitute a qualitative addition within the joint work to empower persons with hearing disabilities.
For her part, Afaf Al Haridi, director of Al Amal School for the Deaf, congratulated everyone on the blessed month of Ramadan and welcomed them to the forum, stressing the importance of the forum as a reminder of the rights of deaf and hard of hearing people and their capabilities as well as the nature of the challenges they face, providing elements and conditions, and harnessing technologies to remove the obstacles they face and build bridges of communication with them to provide them and their institutions with opportunities to play an active and positive role in the process of comprehensive and sustainable social and economic development.
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