Friends of People with Disabilities Team

Who are we?

We are a group of persons interested in the affairs of people with disabilities. We work to monitor all the violations, problems, and difficulties they face, and carry out oversight and follow-up tasks to ensure the implementation of all the rights for people with disabilities. We also work to raise awareness of their rights in order to protect them from any harm or violation of their dignity, whether within the family, or by external governmental and private institutions which provides them with life services.

Our vision:

Working to maintain the rights of people with disabilities and safeguarding the provision of the necessary services to enable them to live a decent life.

Our message:

Supporting, assisting and caring for people with disabilities through commitment to enforcing the law, removing obstacles, monitoring violations against them, building effective mechanisms to protect their rights, developing community awareness of their rights, supervising the necessary training programs for them and those who care for them, through community partnerships with governmental, private and non-profit organizations, and continue to work at providing job opportunities that guarantee them a decent life, so they can be active members of society. The Friends of the Disabled working group was reconstituted in accordance with Article 68 of Law No. 8 of 2010, pursuant to Administrative Resolution (637) of 2023, and Article 68 of Law No. 8 of 2010

Article One

Team is headed by Dr. Issa Mohammed Al-Jassem and the membership of:

１. Mrs. Sahar Al Shawa, Vice President

２. Mr. Saleh Al-Dhafiri

３. Mr. Mansour Al Sarhid

４. Mrs. Maha Al-Hamdan

５. Mr. Khaled Al-Mutairi

６. Mr. Mutlaq Al-Nomas

７. Sheikha Suhaila Al-Sabah

８. Dr. Anoud Al-Tayyar

９. Mr. Muhammad Al-Qattan

１０. Mr. Mubarak Al-Badah

Article Two

The team is assigned the following tasks:

１- Monitoring violations of the rights of persons with disabilities in a way that forms a database of those violations and determining the protection required for them; working to educate society about their rights that preserve their humanity and dignity and preventing their abuse at work, in addition to presenting proposals to improve their conditions, verifying the extent of the commitment of those charged with caring for them, and monitoring violations in this regard.

２- It selects volunteers from governmental and private institutions who have a desire to carry out the tasks of friends of the disabled. They are selected according to personal specifications and characteristics, and they are monitored and evaluated periodically.

３- The team organizes and implements training and rehabilitation courses to activate the work and performance of friends of the disabled in the field and provide them with the necessary experience for this humanitarian mission. The team working on this task has the right to include or exclude whomever it wishes among those working on this task.

４- The team reviews international experiences in the field of friends of people with disabilities through participating in conferences, seminars, meetings and through field visits to some countries that have experience in this field.

５- The tasks of the Friends of the Disabled team are divided into two parts: -

First: Awareness Tasks:

• Organizing awareness campaigns related to the most important violations against people with disabilities, based on a study of these violations.
•  Developing relationships with international and regional organizations specialized in training of disabled individuals.
• Conducting media campaigns to raise social awareness on improving the conditions of people with disabilities through informing the community about their rights that preserve their dignity and humanity.
• Conducting studies with all relevant parties, whether governmental or nongovernmental, to determine the vacant professions and job opportunities for people with disabilities based on their skills and preferences.
• Coordinating with the Ministry of Information regarding providing a sign language interpreter for visual media, whether news programs, or National Assembly sessions, or conferences.

6. Holding training courses and seminars to qualify those dealing with people with disabilities

Second: Procedural Tasks

• Monitoring violations of the rights of people with disabilities and identifying those responsible for these violations and reporting them to the authority for decision-making.
• Verifying the commitment of caregivers for disabled individuals, regardless of the source of their obligations, through field visits conducted by the authority.
• Monitoring the misuse of parking spaces designated for people with disabilities and issuing traffic violations accordingly.
• Ensuring that governmental, non-governmental, and oil sector entities adhere to their obligations to employ the specified percentage of people with disabilities and taking legal actions against them if they refuse without valid reasons.

Article Three

Members of the Friends of the Disabled team are granted the judicial regulatory authority vested in them by Law No. 8 of 2010.

Article Four

The Friends of the Disabled team commits to providing periodic technical reports that include the achievement of the objectives and accomplishments, to be submitted to the General Director of the Authority for the purpose of monitoring and evaluating the team's work.

Article Five

This team holds its meetings outside the official working hours, and the team has the right to seek external assistance as it deems appropriate to carry out its tasks and achieve its goals, whether from within the Authority or from external sources.