Till fairly recently, Mubarak Brook Al Darmaki was a person many people found extremely difficult to deal with.
He has an intellectual disability and would be aggressive, not only towards others, but even to himself.
He refused to obey instructions and found it difficult to interact with others. What's worse was that his condition appeared to be deteriorating and the orphanage where he was placed in had no other choice but to knock at the doors of the Al Ain Private Centre for Care and Rehabilitation (APCCR).
After being admitted to the centre there a miracle seemed to take place. In just a short period of time Mubarak's condition began to improve.
Today, ten years later, the 22-year-old is a completely different person.
He is civil to all, happy to see a new face and eager to speak and express his happiness. He has also developed a healthy curiosity for things - when I meet him, his questions fly thick and fast: "I want to fly in a parachute and I want a white car. Can I see your car? Where is your country? When will you return? Do you have an umbrella? What colour is it?..."
He is also proud of his personal triumphs, particularly in sport. He won fourth prize in bowling in the International Special Olympics held in Ireland in 2004; is a member of the UAE's Special Olympics National Basketball Team... and the list goes on.
Mubarak's case highlights the amazing services rendered by APCCR for children with special needs, not just from the UAE but also from other GCC countries. It is the only special needs centre in the UAE offering residential and rehabilitation services to such children.
The staff and volunteers at the APCCR are warm, welcoming and ever so friendly. The entire team - caretakers, managers and volunteers - seems like one large family, working together with a cheerful and relentless spirit.
The day I visit the centre I meet student volunteers from the Higher Colleges of Technology who are helping out. There is a palpable buzz of activity, and everyone seems to be busy doing the tasks assigned to them. The attitude of people here has a positive ring to it. Though not said aloud, the query "what more can I do for you?" seems to loom large in everyone's mind in the centre.
Built in the style of an Arabic villa with well-equipped classrooms, the facility includes a day school, a playground for children and various other recreational facilities. It offers specialised services and prevocational training and employment options to children with special needs.
"Initially, the centre was small,'' says Sa'adi Jaber, general manager of the APCCR, who joined the centre in 1999.
"However, in a short span of time it expanded, and from 2000 began offering a number of services that deal with special needs such as autism, speech problems, mental retardation, Down's syndrome, cerebral palsy and more. Today we have 164 students who hail from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Egypt and Kuwait. "About 30 children are admitted free of charge or on minimal or reduced fees."
Qualitative work
The centre expanded to accept students from the region in 2003, testimony to their excellent facilities and services. "Parents from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait visit their children at the centre every month, despite the travelling expenses they incur when coming from such far-off places. Sometimes these parents come to spend just one or two days with the children. They collect the progress reports of their wards and return home, [but] constantly keep in touch with the centre," says Jaber.
The hard work that the staff are putting in has begun to show. A student from Saudi Arabia, for instance, who spent three years at the centre, is today gainfully employed, much to the delight of his parents.
"There are many other parents who constantly give us their feedback on the benefits that their children receive, and this encourages us to work harder,'' says Jaber. "There were a few instances when families opted to take their children from here and place them at other centres, but after about a year those parents returned, telling us that they want their children to be here and nowhere else. This goes to show that we give them something of value."
Service from the heart
Run by a team of 34 on-board specialists, the APCCR management ensures that everyone who works at the centre has a minimum of at least two years' experience in the field of special needs. More important than the qualifications they possess, they are chosen based on the quality of service they provide. "We choose people who are willing to work whole-heartedly," says Jaber.
The centre boasts several departments such as the Mental Retardation Section, the Early Intervention Section, the Autistic and Behavioural Disorder Section, the Vocational Rehabilitation Section and a Computer Section to help children reach their full potential.
The children at the APCCR are assessed on an individual basis and the centre holds weekly and monthly follow-ups with parents.
"When we receive a child, we make an individual assessment to screen major impairments and to determine the child's potential ability and their disability. Then we place him/her under close observation for 10 to 30 days. During this time, we monitor their general behaviour and responses, and based on the results of the assessment period, we prepare a yearly plan for the child and evaluate him/her on a monthly basis."
What is crucial are the regular interviews that are held with parents and other family members. They help reveal how the child feels in different surroundings, for instance, at home and in class. "We also record the child's behaviour each month, so that we can chart their progress by the end of two or three months," says Jaber.
The APCCR offers various activities that are tailored for each child's condition. Such activities are seen as an essential tool in the overall development of children with special needs, and go a long way in building their confidence and self-esteem.
"These activities, especially those related to sport, make the children at the centre feel like regular children. This is true especially within their own families," says Jaber.
This is particularly so if they win a prize in an event. It can help improve their self-confidence and bolster their image.
"Children with special needs realise that sometimes they can do better than their [regular] siblings, especially when they return home with a medal they won in a competition at the centre. It not only makes the children proud of themselves, but also has an impact on other family members."
To illustrate, he cites the case of a proud father of a special needs child who won a medal. "The father has framed the medal and is so proud of it, that whenever he meets anyone, he tells them about his son and the competition he won the medal in."
The most important aspect of such activities, Jaber tells me, is that it helps physically challenged children overcome their shyness and feel part of the outside world. It also helps develop their personality.
"We need cooperation from all the families of these special children. Family support means a lot to them," says Jaber.
A model for self-sustenance
Hoping to "become their gateway to the future", the APCCR also creates avenues for children with special needs to become productive members of society. Prevocational rehabilitation is provided to children who're 13 years and above. The courses are designed to perfect and train them in fields such as carpentry, ceramics, tailoring and handicrafts. The centre then finds suitable jobs for them, mostly in the companies that are owned by its founder and CEO Nasser Bin Aziez, "Currently, we have managed to place students in printing and typing centres, among others," says Jaber.
Volunteering activities
The APCCR has also recently launched a number of noteworthy initiatives that have shed new light on the special needs community. These include the Volunteer Leadership Programme (VLP) and the Volunteer Trustee Initiative, as well as a number of fundraising options for individuals and corporations.
How you can assist Volunteers will be involved in various activities such as supporting the campaign vision, providing overall direction, assisting in fundraising and raising awareness for the cause to support children with special needs.
The only requirement is that they would have to contribute at least eight to ten hours a month for these activities. "Being a volunteer is immensely rewarding, providing both expected and unexpected opportunities for personal development. While you bring your skills and energy to a worthy cause, you will also find it as an excellent way to network, support the community and have fun while getting to know other individuals with similar interest," says Sophia Korayim, director of development.
"I started working here three years ago as a physiotherapist, and then recently I started assisting in the volunteering campaigns that have been launched,'' says Laura Mosteanu, development assistant, APCCR.
"The VLP is an awareness campaign to educate the people about various disabilities and we are trying to bring the awareness to the community at large. Through this programme, the students have been engaging with the special children and we are trying to bring them out to the shopping malls along with the volunteers.
"This helps in a way that people know how to interact with physically challenged children. I believe that such initiatives break barriers as the volunteers themselves are having such a great experience," adds Mosteanu.
The new APCCR facility
Set to be fully functional by mid-2012, the new state-of-the-art facility for APCCR is poised to be the only centre in the UAE that will include a research facility for those with special needs, and offer accommodation for around 450 children.
The centre will include a residential section, a school, an aqua park, sheltered sports hall, a zoo, a horse track and much more, says Jaber.It will also have an R&D wing that will benefit residential students with models to learn and develop, rehabilitation therapy, regional training and research for specialists and staff at the centre.
It will also offer short courses and certifications, academic education for the deaf with a fully developed audio laboratory, and Prevocational Rehabilitation for eventual integrated work placement.
With strategic alliances forged with institutes such as The Center for Discovery in New York, Emirates University and Higher Colleges of Technology, there is a lot to expect from this new beacon that will shape the future of rehabilitation in the UAE.
