Muscat: Two Omanis are trying to prove by entering the election fray for a seat in the country's Shura Council that a physically challenged citizen can be "one among the equals".
"Nothing stops us from performing our tasks if not better with equal skills and that is what I want to convey to my compatriots by contesting the Shura elections this time," Salim Bin Abdullah Al Kindi, a qualified Omani engineer, told Gulf News.
Al Kindi is physically challenged as a result of polio he contracted as a child.
The last thing that Al Kindi, one of the 63 candidates contesting from the Seeb area, wants is sympathy. "We want acceptance that we are as equal as the others and our disability is not a handicap," he stressed.
Al Kindi, 38, is depending on a network of friends to campaign. "I am also trying to convey my intentions to contest through newspaper interviews and advertisements in local Arabic papers.
It is not all about winning the elections for this Omantel engineer. "I would be more than happy if I can bring the cause of physically challenged to fore by contesting these elections," he reasoned about his decision.
He wants people in Oman and other GCC countries to understand that physically challenged citizens need larger understanding.
"I am depending on friends, SMS, media and social media websites to spread the word," he said optimistically.
To voice the issues of disabled citizens in the Shura, Al Kindi feels that the government should reserve seats for the physically challenged.
Salim Al Rawahi, another candidate from Seeb, lost his eyesight due to a medical error.
The law graduate from Cairo says that he is contesting elections not only to represent his district, but to offer his services to the nation. The author of several books, firmly believes that he has qualifications to be in the Shura and can contribute as equally as those who can see. "I would like to see strict laws against medical errors," he said.
Both candidates are unperturbed by the tough competition. Their aim is to bring the focus on physically challenged and to tell the world: "We are equal."
