Municipal Council discusses needs of disabled people
KUWAIT: Director of Kuwait Municipal Council Osama Al-Otaibi affirmed yesterday importance of taking into consideration requirements of people with special needs in all the council’s projects. In a special board session to discuss this issue, Al-Otaibi said the meeting was held to ensure these people obtain all their rights as citizens, including housing projects, designed to suit their needs.”In this regard, a proposal to increase construction space for special needs’ people is being revised now and will be put into action soon,” he added.
On her part, head of the team charged to follow up on issues of the handicapped, Suad Al-Fares, expressed her gratitude to the council for including special services that suit the needs of disabled people as part of construction projects. “These services will facilitate their movement in and outside their houses, at residential areas, government institutions, shopping centers, entertainment places and public parks” Al-Fares said. Deputy Director General for Education and Rehabilitation Services at the Public Authority for the Disability Affairs, Anwar Al-Ansari, spoke about the authority’s services including financial support for the handicapped.
Al-Ansari clarified that a team of experts, including engineers from both governmental and private sectors, was formed to study building architectural standards with the aim of facilitating the movement of the disabled. In accordance with Law No 8/2010 on persons with disabilities, the authority seeks to increase the number of rehabilitation centers for people with special needs in residential areas, asking the municipal council to allocate land to help them establish these centers.
For his part, Chairman of the independent committee for the disabled in the Municipal Council Dr Hasan Kamal said “we recognize the needs of those people and so, we attach great importance to meeting their requirements in construction planning.” Several bodies working in the field of disability submitted to the municipal council a number of requests for safety of movement and access to public buildings, departments, ministries, institutions, roads, streets, corridors and sidewalks. They also applied for establishment of schools, clubs, hospitals and parks to make movement of people with disabilities easier.