I am Dr. Rabaa El-Majaly, a woman with visual disability. My condition has been a big challenge for me but also a source of persistence.

 

I have achieved a respectable scientific and economic status, and got the position of Participating Professor in Arabic language and its literature. I support finding opportunities for others and having an active role in society. My motivation for voluntary work stemmed from my belief that there are marginalized people who need justice, and who are a victim of exclusion because of their gender, disability or other reasons. The possibility of having a job opportunity for people with disability is very low, despite of the issuing of 2017 law no. 20 for people with disabilities which designated a quota for employing people with disabilities and included a fine on organizations that violate that. However, opportunities are still limited especially in conservative and remote governorates 

I worked through Elsura Society for the Rights of People with Disability on consolidating the language of rights. We were the first to use the term “people with disabilities”, even before its ratification by the high council for the rights of people with disabilities. This is because of our conviction that disabilities are external obstacles and behavioral ones and not something intrinsic to the individual with disability himself and through the rehabilitation of society we can rehabilitate the human being. 

 

Our initiative aims at activating the new law for people with disabilities and to raise general awareness and make employers in Karak governorate commit to employing people with disabilities; both males and females. We also made a prize for companies and organizations that abide by the law and we called it “the first man prize”. The reason why we called it this way is that His Majesty King Abdullah II gave a lot of his attention to people with disabilities, and therefore those who commits to the law would be following his league. To motivate the managers of the private sector, we made an annual national prize, and integrated that as part of the quality standards of the company.

 

We started to promote the idea in Elmazar area in Karak governorate, south of Jordan, and in particular in Mo’ta. After that, the high council for people with disabilities has become an important strategic partner in developing the national prize to motivate the employers to include the people with disabilities in the job market.

During the implementation, we established a team with strong bonding, harmony and social responsibility that speaks common rights language. We contributed to changing the stereotypes of officials on people with disabilities. During the life time of the initiative, the governors changed three times. We met the new governor and we were three people from the NGO, all of us are with disabilities.  At the beginning, the officials thought we were beggars, but after he got to know us, our initiatives and our work, his attitude changed and he became more supportive, realizing the importance of the work we are doing. The same applies to the local society, where we observed a change in the pattern of behavior towards us as people with disabilities. We also observed an increase in awareness of people with disabilities themselves, especially girls, of the rights that are guaranteed to them by the law and the constitution.

 

Today, at Elsura Society, we have become a mediator for employment between companies and people with disabilities. So far, 6 of the companies, that collaborated with us, employed a number of men and women. However, some couldn't continue their work due to the fact that the working environment wasn't prepared to accommodate the needs of these people. This is why we realize that our demands for employment should include the demand for a safe and convenient environment to enable people with disabilities to practice their full rights.