Sharjah 24: with the aim of providing new knowledge, exchanging experiences, and presenting successful experiences of the role of social innovation in improving the quality of life for persons with disabilities, the Sharjah City for Humanitarian Services (SCHS) organised "Social Innovation and Improving the Quality of Services Provided to Persons with Disabilities" symposium.

The symposium also aimed to elaborate more broadly the concept of social innovation and its tools and the extent to which it can be harnessed to meet the societal challenges facing persons with disabilities in moving towards comprehensive empowerment and full representation, in addition to spreading the culture of social innovation at all levels and highlighting the advanced tools and methodologies used in this field, on both Arab and international levels. 

Sheikha Al Qasimi, the Representative of Self-advocates in "Inclusion International" gave a speech in which she spoke about the rights of persons with disabilities, as well as the most important societal challenges they face, introducing a quick overview of self-advocacy programmes.

Given that the concept of "social innovation" is still new in our Arab region, the city decided to address this issue and explore the possibility of harnessing social innovation tools to improve the quality of services provided to persons with disabilities.

 The Chargé d’Affairs of the Social Service Department in the city spoke about the societal challenges faced by persons with disabilities, represented by inclusive educational challenges, employment and comprehensive empowerment. Among the challenges faced by employees with intellectual disabilities is the lack of facilitation of information within the work environment, which contributes to the lack of knowledge and familiarity of employees with the procedures and manuals followed, in addition to the need to intensify quality education, training and vocational rehabilitation programmes in the pre- and post-employment phase.