Dubai: People with disabilities living in Dubai have been urged to take advantage of a programme offering them exclusive privileges and services with up to 50 per cent discount with the help of a Sanad Card.
The Community Development Authority (CDA) rolled out the Sanad Card (Arabic for “to support”) to 260 people with disabilities, all of whom are Emirati, on January 31.
The CDA-issued Sanad is a smart card that ensures all people with disabilities living in Dubai are granted privileges and discounts on medical, dental, legal, logistical and government services.
The card is part of the My Community Initiative launched by Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, in November 2013.
“The number of people who registered is quite low compared to what we had hoped for. We look forward for the registration of 4,000 people with disability by the end of the year,” Dr Shaikha Alia Humaid Al Qasimi, Director of Social Programme and Inclusion, told Gulf News.
The Dubai Social Study 2013-2014 estimates there are more than 12,000 people with disability in Dubai. Some 37 per cent of them are totally independent, 35 per cent are totally dependent, while 28 per cent need help. The conditions include seeing, hearing, speech and learning disabilities, with motor disabilities taking up the biggest percentage at 28 per cent.
The Sanad card was launched in order to better serve this section of the community as well as create a database to better assess the services that they need for the future.
The low turnout in the registration process could be because of lack of public awareness, Dr Alia said.
“I would request and invite people to register for the Sanad card. It is important for us to know where they are, how much of our services they are receiving, what we need to provide for them and not only what we think they need,” she said.
“We want to involve them throughout the whole process, whether through planning, implementation, development, improvement of any service that we or anyone else will provide for persons with disability for Dubai.”
The Sanad card will be given for free to three categories, category A for Emiratis, category B for non-Emiratis, and category C for visitors or persons with disabilities who are in transit. CDA is currently rolling out the first phase for category A and the remaining categories will be served in the future.
“We want Dubai to be a disability-friendly city so that even the person who transits or comes for a short stay will be able to use whatever [service] is there for them. We thought of them, the service is there, we welcome them,” Dr Alia said.
