HCD reviews achievements in promoting rights of persons with disabilities in 2024

AMMAN — Spokesperson of the Higher Council for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (HCD) Rafat Zaitawi on Saturday said that one of the most significant achievements in the field of disability rights in 2024 was completing preparations for the third Global Disability Summit (GDS), set to be held in Berlin next April.

Jordan hosted the multi-regional preparatory conference for the summit, attended by 500 entities, including international organisations, Arab and regional governments, and academics, to exchange expertise and enhance commitments to support disability rights.

In remarks to the Jordan News Agency, Petra, Zaitawi said that the HCD, in cooperation with the Jordanian Persons with Disabilities Coalition and the “Inclusive” project funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, held consultative sessions on the priorities of organisations under the summit's themes.

These sessions, attended by 235 representatives from disability organisations, addressed inclusive social protection for persons with disabilities, he added.

To enhance political participation, during the 20th parliamentary elections, the council, in partnership with the Independent Election Commission, developed an action plan to encourage the participation of persons with disabilities, Zaitawi noted.

He said that the plan included raising awareness about their involvement, equipping model polling stations, and training electoral staff on human rights-based interactions and effective communication.

The HCD also conducted training programmes and launched an awareness campaign to ensure that electoral messages reached voters with disabilities, where the campaign achieved 934,642 views, the spokesperson pointed out.

Through collaboration with the Public Security Directorate, 10 police stations across the Kingdom, along with Al-Hashimiyah Rehabilitation and Correctional Centre, were equipped to provide services for persons with disabilities.

This included providing sign language interpreters during investigations, preparing vehicles to transport detainees and convicts with disabilities, and converting awareness materials into accessible formats such as Braille, large print, electronic formats, and sign language translations to ensure comprehensibility, Zaitawi noted.

Regarding disability identification cards, 17,138 individuals received the cards, which are now officially recognised for eligibility to compete for university seats for persons with disabilities.

He added that this initiative, implemented in coordination with the Unified Admissions Coordination Unit at the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, grants discounts on tuition fees under the law for both regular and parallel programmes at public universities starting from the 2024-2025 academic year.

The spokesperson said that to ensure accessibility to tourist sites and services, the HCD had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Petra Development and Tourism Region Authority to enhance access for persons with disabilities to facilities and archaeological sites in Petra, ensuring their needs are met.

Zaitawi also highlighted the implementation of a pioneering project to develop academic sign language in schools for deaf students, the first of its kind in Jordan.

This initiative improved education for deaf and hard-of-hearing students from kindergarten to high school by identifying academic terms absent from sign language, creating 2,000 new signs, integrating them into the Jordanian Sign Language Dictionary, and providing free access via the "SooSL" global platform.

In media, the HCD continued its annual media competition, launched in 2021, to encourage creative media productions that promote a culture of diversity and respect for differences.

The competition aimed to spotlight challenges and barriers faced by persons with disabilities rather than focusing on the disabilities themselves, encouraging innovation among media professionals to produce rights-based content highlighting success stories and positive practices, Zaitawi added.