Doha, October 04 (QNA) The Special Adviser for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities at the US State Department, Sarah Minkara, praised the great effort made by the State of Qatar in the field of care and attention to persons with disabilities, stressing that her visit to the country and her meeting with Qatari officials enabled her to identify the size of the achievements and developments in this field.

In an exclusive statement to Qatar News Agency (QNA), Minkara said that her visit clearly showed her the extent of Qatar's commitment to this important segment of society, in addition to reviewing the Qatari experience, which is a pioneer and can be presented to countries in the region, she also pointed out that her visit to the country falls within the framework of her participation in the World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH), which takes health innovation and progress in this field as a major focus, with a focus on disability and sports.

The Special Adviser for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities at the US State Department added that, during the meetings with various officials concerned with the field of disability in Qatar, she really sensed the great care towards persons with disabilities by launching many programs and initiatives for their inclusion and by adopting inclusive education mechanisms, saying, "Qatar It has a comprehensive employment policy for people with disabilities, as the Qatari legislator enacted a law to provide 2 percent of jobs for this segment of society.

In a related context, the American official expressed her desire for the State of Qatar to join the GLAD network, which is a network of donor countries and multilateral organizations such as United Nations institutions that come together to support issues related to persons with disabilities, pointing out that 42 member states meet It focuses on developing the capabilities of persons with disabilities internationally, and is also among the largest networks in the world concerned with achieving international stability, expressing its hope that Qatar will become the first Arab country to become involved in this network.

On the other hand, Mingara praised the achievements made by Qatar to make the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 accessible to people with disabilities, as it worked to make transportation, stadiums and other facilities related to organizing the event easy for this group of society, adding, "Qatar will make the World Cup tournament Which will be hosted in less than two months, the most accessible for people with disabilities, which we have already seen during our visit to the headquarters of the Organizing Committee.”

She stressed the need for the comprehensive inclusion of persons with disabilities through value, saying, "The inclusion of persons with disabilities gives an added value to all."

She added, "Making this world system and society accessible to people with disabilities is not only an addition and it is not the right thing to do, but consider them an addition to all of us and can benefit from them," noting that she seeks, through her work in the US State Department, to cooperate with governments and countries around the world to help them provide technical assistance and provide knowledge and experience through value-based stories that serve as a reference for the addition that a person with a disability can make.

In her statement to "QNA", Mrs. Sarah Minkara confirmed that one of the biggest challenges faced by people with disabilities is the label related to disability in itself, so work must be done to overcome this view related to the inability of this group, and consider them as part of the solution to the challenges they face. Communities, they are part of the process, stressing that “they are not only people we need to make sure we protect and recognize them and move forward, but let us also make sure they are part of the solutions.”

The Special Adviser on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities at the US State Department highlighted that the marginalization of persons with disabilities is an issue not only related to the Arab world, but to various countries of the world and they are not integrated in the education sector, employment sector and many other ways, noting the need to work in an institutional manner, so it must be ensured First and foremost, there should be policies within the government in matters related to disability, and their support, and making them in a way that is simplified across all the different policies, and it must be ensured that it is not a separate disability policy, but rather it must be comprehensive. Recruitment, smoothly.

At the conclusion of her special statement to Qatar News Agency (QNA), Minkara noted the need to change the culture of societies and their view of people with disabilities, especially the stories that are circulated around them, and to focus on presenting value-based success stories, saying in this context, "I believe that people with disabilities In my community they are not a charitable cause, but people with potential and value, which calls for societies to find solutions to make sure that people with disabilities are truly included.. But we will never achieve full inclusion if we do not really deal with the basic aspect, which is the anecdotal and narrative aspect that weaves around people with disabilities, and if societies do not believe in the inclusion of people with disabilities, they will always be marginalized.