People with disabilities can be active members of community

Previously, the Ministry of Civil Service revealed that there are around 6,700 people with disabilities working in the private sector. In June, an initiative titled ‘Kaderoon’ organised by the Ministry, in cooperation with Assas Muscat , was launched to train, rehabilitate, and employ people with disabilities.

Mohammed Mohsin Al Lawati, vice president of the Omani Association for the Disabled, spoke to Times of Oman about the impact employment could have on the emotional health of a person with disabilities: “We must take care of this group; at the end of the day they are citizens and deserve equal treatment. Taking them out of their home environment and giving them a job will help them psychologically because they can rely on themselves for a source of income”.

“Employment is the best method to combat people with disabilities being involved in begging. Thankfully, many companies in both the private and public sectors have begun employing this group. If every company offered work to 2 or 3 disabled people, we would not have any skilled person with disabilities unemployed”.

Speaking about the association’s efforts and how various companies could work together to help better integrate this demographic into the workforce, Al Lawati said: “The association continuously raises awareness with both society and government institutions to inform them that people with disabilities are not a burden but can be active and productive members of the community who can positively contribute to the country’s workforce”. “2 per cent of any jobs announced by the Ministry of Civil Service are allocated to those with disabilities. Previously, that percentage was good enough but now that we have more people with disabilities who are university graduates and are engaging within society, that percentage must increase.”

The data also revealed that 67 per cent of those recruited had hearing or visual disabilities. Furthermore, the number of female disabled employees also increased from 72 in 2017 to 96 in 2018.

Sheikha Al Jasasi, who is visually impaired, spoke to Times of Oman about her experience of working in the government sector.

“What is great about Oman is that there are good employment opportunities that are provided to people with disabilities. Members of this group can work in various fields, not only as call centre operators but also as media specialists, as translators and even as researchers”.

Al Jasasi pointed out that there is room for improvement in terms of the facilities that are provided to workers with disabilities.

“It is a good thing that the public sector is accepting more people with special needs, but there are still some human resource workers who do not know how to provide the necessary technologies and devices such as screen readers. Certain buildings are not even accessible to people with physical disabilities, making it harder for employees to move from one place to another.”

According to Al Jasasi, the first step that both the public and private sectors could take to help people with disabilities begins with the job application phase: “A person with disabilities might need specific devices to read and write. Sometimes, job application procedures are not easy for them to access, making it even harder for them. Therefore, institutions could make the application process online and simpler. Once, I tried to do an entrance exam for a job and at that time someone had to read and write for me, but nowadays we can do all that on our own on the computers. The technology is there, it is only a matter of institutions installing it in order to make it more accessible for the disabled.”

“It is also important for the person with a disability to make sure they inform their employee of the equipment and devices available globally for them. It is very important for the person with a disability to work hard, and to keep pursuing their education,” Al Jasasi added. Khamis Al Salti, a visually impaired employee working as a programme follow up specialist at the Public Authority for Television and Radio said, “Over the past two years, there has been a big push to employ people with disabilities, most of them university graduates. It is great to see the support for this group of society. I hope that every one that is in my place could have the opportunity to be employed. We [the disabled ] can be productive members of the community and so, when given a job, employers should be confident that we are capable of doing it.”