Ten-year plan for educational, social inclusion of people with disabilities to this year

AMMAN — Ten-year educational and social plans for the inclusion of people with physical and intellectual disability will kick off by the third quarter of the year, the Higher Council for People with Disability’s (HCD) Secretary General Senator Muhannad Azzeh told The Jordan Times recently.

In cooperation with the Ministry of Education, four schools around the Kingdom will be equipped and provided with trained teachers as part of a pilot project on educational inclusion of people with physical and intellectual disabilities. 

Making schools inclusive for people with intellectual disabilities is one of the main aims of the project, Azzeh stressed.

According to the World Health Organisation, intellectual disability means a significantly reduced ability to understand new or complex information and to learn and apply new skills that results in a reduced ability to cope independently, and begins before adulthood, with a lasting effect on development.

Jordan on Friday joined 50 countries around the world in the global initiative “Light Up Red for Inclusion” on the occasion of the Special Olympics’ 50th anniversary advocating for the inclusion of people with intellectual disability. 

The Amman Citadel, Le Royal Hotel and the Hashemite University were among 172 landmarks across the globe lit up in red in a call for better inclusion of people with intellectual disability in their societies around the world, Jordan Paralympics Committee Director Ali Shawaheen said.

HRH Prince Raad, president of the Jordan Paralympics Committee, said in a press release that comprehensive inclusion of people with disabilities in general and people with intellectual disabilities in particular is a right that is protected by legislation and international conventions.

Social attitudes towards people with intellectual disabilities have for long been affecting their inclusion in schools due to children’s and families’ lack of awareness regarding intellectual disability and people with disabilities generally, HCD’s secretary general noted. 

Azzeh expressed hopes of developing curricula, throughout the ten-year plan, to enhance people’s understanding of issues related to people with disabilities, saying he expects such a measure to accomplish 70 per cent of inclusion goals. 

On the other hand, a Diagnostic Standards Index of intellectual disabilities as well as the ten-year plan that aims at shifting care system of people with disabilities from institutional to family and society based will be launched by the end of the year, as part of HCD’s inclusion and accessibility roadmap, Azzeh said.

Prince Raad has said in the press release that the Jordan Paralympics Committee has been working hard in cooperation with Jordanian institutions on enhancing social, sporting and educational inclusion in society, pointing out the efforts of the late founder of Special Olympics Eunice Kennedy who established the Special Olympics in 1968. 

Jordan was the first Arab country to join the Special Olympics Organisation in 1986. Since then, 5,800 athletes have participated in the biannual Special Olympics Games, Shawaheen noted. 

Around 6 million athletes participate in the Special Olympics Games, where 62 different sports are played, Shawaheen noted.

The UAE and Egypt are participating in the first Unified Football Cup in Chicago, the US, which kicked off on Friday with teams consisting of people with and without intellectual disabilities, Shawaheen added. 

Fifty-one athletes will represent Jordan in the next Special Olympic Games, which is scheduled to take place in Abu Dhabi, the UAE, between 14-21 March, 2019, the Jordan Paralympics Committee director said.