Abstract

Abstract

In undertaking any study, the National Human Rights Commission starts from the reality of the people's daily life. This stems from the fact that the objective of the legal texts related to human rights is to provide protection and empowerment to those who represent their primary object, i.e. human beings.

In order to achieve this goal, this study includes academic aspects, national legislations and international standards, in addition to methodical field research.

This study begins with the definition of Article No. (4) of the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which lays the foundation for the research methodology which was based on consultation with people with disabilities, their parents and specialists, in addition to teachers of special education and their assistants at the centers that deal with people with special needs.

Chapter I of the study includes an explanation of the concept of equal opportunities and the emergence of the idea of ‘integration’ as a fundamental right of persons with special needs in order to give them equal opportunities with their peers, therefore, the meaning of educational integration was explained, along with its conditions, benefits and its importance.

Chapter II includes an explanation of the types of disability through brief academic definitions, followed by statistics on disability in the State of Qatar. Further, the study demonstrates the causes of disability, such as genetic factors in the marriage between relatives, in addition to environmental and health impacts.

Chapter III of the study marks the beginning of the conducted field research for a number of institutions in Qatar, such as Qatar Society for People with Special Needs, the Shafallah Center and Al-Nour Institute for the Blind, and others.

Field research was based on spending a long time at the centers for people with special needs, conducting discussions and asking detailed questions. Disabilities discussed include motor disabilities such as polio to audio-visual disabilities, autism and mental retardation with various levels of intensity in addition to cerebral palsy and rare disabilities. This study has documented the services claimed to be provided by every center in interviews conducted with the managers and workers, then moved on to direct observations, extrapolation of answers, then comparing all such data to national legislations and international standards contained in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

As a result, there were a number of positive and negative remarks regarding the activities of these centers and the services they provide. The study was not restricted to methodical criticism, but has also provided each center with recommendations and videos, in order to avoid the shortcomings found. In its final part, Chapter IV, the study has concluded with a general outcome that disability represents a concept that is still under development, and the State has made already some achievements in caring for persons with special needs, comparing to the period of time when the State began to pay attention to the issue of disability. Nevertheless, there is still a lot of work to be done in this regard. The study concluded with fifteen recommendations of a practical nature, to advance the conditions of people with special needs.

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/content/papers/10.5339/qfarf.2010.AHO4
2010-12-13
2024-03-29
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References

  1. H. Al-Ali, A comprehensive study on disability and the conditionsof people with special needs in Qatar, QFARF Proceedings, 2010, AHO4.
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http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/papers/10.5339/qfarf.2010.AHO4
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