Dubai: People with hearing disabilities will soon be able to read excerpts from the books of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, thanks to a Dubai Municipality initiative.

The civic body is making short films in sign language based on his books and several other books under the new initiative titled “Dubai Municipality Reads for the People of Determination”

Filming of stories with translation in sign language will be done by Dubai Municipality employees, who know sign language.

A number of volunteers have also joined in making these stories available to all children through Dubai Municipality website, its Knowledge Portal, Children’s City, websites of the organisations concerned with the category of people with hearing disabilities and the public libraries.

Announcing these details, Maryam Ahmad Bin Fahd, director of Knowledge and Innovation Department in the Municipality, said books in both Arabic and English will be translated.

“The translation [of his books into sign language] will be done [for people following] both Arabic and English. In addition to that, 17 stories will be translated in sign language this year,” she said in a press statement issued on Monday.

Filming of two stories has been completed and they have been converted into sign language with the help of a team specialised in sign language. The films will be uploaded on YouTube and other social media sites shortly.

“We have embarked on this initiative in the light of the statistics issued by the Ministry of Health in January based on the latest survey, which indicated that the rate of hearing loss in the UAE is up to 4 per cent. According to the UAE Deaf Association, there are more than 3,000 deaf people in the country, who enjoy a cultural and social specificity,” said Bin Fahd.

She pointed out that the municipality is following the wise leadership of the country, who gives special attention and care to the people with disabilities and strives for their integration to the society.

“Hence, the initiative will contribute to spreading the culture of information and knowledge on this important segment of the society. The initiative is also linked to the Year of Giving through providing an opportunity for volunteers who are fluent in sign language to serve the people with hearing disabilities with an extraordinary concept and achieve sustainability and happiness for members of the community,” said Bin Fahd.

She explained that the initiative includes several elements, the first of which is aimed at the category of people with hearing and speech challenges. Secondly, it aims to create a social and participatory approach from all members of the community who speak the sign language, whether they are municipality employees, other government department employees, municipality’s strategic partners, sign language specialists or staff members of the organisations for the deaf.

Bin Fahd urged everyone who has mastered the sign language, whether working with the municipality or otherwise, to participate in the translation of the stories into the sign language for the initiative.

She said the municipality will take care of the technical side to upload the stories on the various websites for the benefit a larger audience of people with disabilities.