KSA support for disabled tops $1.3bn, UN summit told

Ahmed Al-Fuhaid, An expert on issues of empowering people with disabilities. (Supplied)

• Jobs, education, services based on ‘rights and values,’ Saudi delegate says
• Official statistics showed more than 400,000 disabled people benefited from financial support in 2021

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has spent more than $1.3 billion in the past year to support disabled people in the Kingdom, empowering them socially, educationally and economically, a UN human rights summit has heard.
Abdulaziz Abdullah Al-Khayal, vice president of the Saudi Human Rights Commission, told the 15th session of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in New York that the Kingdom “pays great attention to the rights of disabled people, based on its constitutional principles and values.”
Official statistics showed more than 400,000 disabled people benefited from financial support in 2021, while more than 100,000 devices were distributed to the disabled at a cost of almost $60 million, he said.
Al-Khayal, who led the Saudi delegation to the June 14-16 conference, said that the National Transformation Program, part of the Vision 2030 reform plan, ensures that people with disabilities have appropriate job opportunities, while education encourages social integration and facilities are set up to provide a decent life.
More than $130 million had been spent in 2021 on alternatives to shelter services, with about 17,000 people benefiting. Training programs and a home social welfare program were also provided.
Al-Khayal told the conference that the Kingdom adopted a series of measures to protect the disabled from the effects of the global pandemic, including the provision of 1.5 million doses of vaccine.
Despite the negative economic effects of the pandemic globally, the percentage of working people with disabilities in the Kingdom increased from 11 percent to more than 12 percent by the end of 2021.
Distance education was provided, and protocols were prepared for schools and centers, with 63 associations formed.
Ahmed Al-Fuhaid, director of disabled individuals empowerment at the Human Resources Development Fund, told Arab News that the Kingdom is helping to “activate an important segment of society, harnessing potential energies, thinking minds and working hands.”
He added: “Equality, guaranteed rights and harmonization lead to empowerment.”
Saudi Arabia ranks highly among developed countries when it comes to support for disabled people, particularly in terms of rehabilitation, education, protection and care, Al-Fuhaid said.
“When we look forward to opportunities and initiatives for people with disabilities, we feel proud of the Kingdom’s progress in this field. Saudi Arabia has become a favorite place for investment by several companies in the field of support, empowerment and rehabilitation of people with disabilities.”
At the local level, individual and institutional practices regarding disabled people are no longer based on sympathy but on rights and equality, Al-Fuhaid said.
“This is a significant shift in a few years and a change in the conviction of many in society,” he added.