Abu Dhabi: With over 3,000 special needs people in Abu Dhabi, the UAE needs more qualified staff, centres and awareness of the many ways of helping people with disabilities achieve important goals in school, university, work, sports and society, officials told Gulf News during the AbilitiesMe event on Monday.

AbilitiesMe is the first exhibition and conference of its kind in the UAE that focuses on the economic, social, educational, and professional empowerment of people with disabilities,

“There are no sufficient statistics issued about the number of special needs people here in the UAE. However, we are trying our best to start initiatives like AbilitiesMe, the first of its kind event in the region. The three-day event was initiated by us as we felt that there is an urgent need to educate disabled people, their parents and workers all across the UAE on how to deal with disabilities,” Mohammad Fadil Al Hameli, deputy chairman and secretary-general of Zayed Higher Organisation for Humanitarian Care and Special Needs (ZHO), told Gulf News.

Al Hameli was speaking on the sidelines of the event, which was held at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (Adnec) on Monday and runs until Wednesday.

“The UAE has always been committed to providing education and careers for disabled people and integrating them into productive and social life by supporting and equipping them with new life skills. More than 800 disabled students have been placed in different schools in Abu Dhabi since 2007. Additionally, the first batch of Emirati deaf students will graduate next year from different universities in the US,” he said.

When asked if there is enough awareness about sign language in the UAE, he answered: “More improvement need to be done to introduce sign language courses in school, university and work in order to break communication barriers between all members of society. We have already conducted several workshops earlier to educate the public about the importance of sign language, as it empowers special needs people and helps them break the barriers in everyday life.”

A shortage of sign language translators, schools and universities for people with hearing loss have been largely noticed in the UAE, Gulf News has learnt.

“There are over 800 hearing-impaired individuals in Abu Dhabi. Most parents never understand the unique care which deaf children need,” Hamad Hazza Al Darmaki, chairman of the board at the Emirates Association for the Deaf in Al Ain, told Gulf News.

“There is no special curriculum designed for deaf individuals, thus there is a very little chance for them to learn or gain information. Also, a shortage in sign language translators has been noticed in several schools when some impaired hearing students were integrated,” he said.

“Most deaf students in the UAE travel abroad for study, either to school, university or work, as they find the appropriate social and educational setting, which encourages their independence and increases their learning opportunities,” he added.

Al Darmaki also pointed out that many deaf people in the association have applied for jobs in the country, however, they didn’t hear back from prospective employers for years.

“Deaf people in workplaces have complained about not being promoted compared to other colleagues,” he said.