"A Right for an Equal Life" aims at creating a process and a system for empowering Young Adults with Disability & offering them an equal opportunity and rights for employment and help them to work together with all others as an integrated whole. (In particular Mental & Physical Disabilities; Down Syndrome, Autism, Cerebral Palsy ...etc).
According to the most recent researches held in year 2005 by the Red Crescent Society, there are as many as 14 million disabled people in Egypt. However, according to the actual reality and confirmation of all experts in the field, we cannot rely on the available statistics and data in dealing with the issue of people with disability as those numbers do not reflect the actual size of the disability problem in Egypt.
Despite the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), Article 27 which acknowledges the right of the disabled to have decent jobs and have equal opportunities that the non-disabled have, nevertheless, according to United Nations latest studies "In developing countries, 80% to 90% of persons with disabilities of working age are unemployed"
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There is always discrimination between disabled and non-disabled people especially when it comes to working conditions. The main reason the disabled are almost absent from the labor force is the negative attitudes and lack of knowledge about their ability.
People with Disability face many problems to obtain needed services such as education & rehabilitation, as well as obtaining their rights such as participating, integration, security and on top of them all their right to work and lead a life with dignity and pride.
Ebtessama Foundation aims at equalizing opportunities and eliminating the social, cultural and physical barriers that may prevent the disabled people from having an equal opportunity in finding a job and leading a normal life with dignity and pride.
Ebtessama plans to launch a project that will consider people with disabilities for a wider segment of jobs through organizing workshops and training programs to train & empower Young Adults with Disability and qualify to join the work force and compete freely in the labor market. On the other hand Ebtessama plans to launch serious of public education and awareness campaigns to educate and highlight the competence of Young Adults with Disability and the issue of equality mainly in the employment sphere.
E-mail: magda.samy@yahoo.com
Phone: 0233376720
Ebtessama Foundation was established in 2007 with the aim of supporting and empowering people with disabilities and their families in all aspects of life in an attempt to give them their deserved equal opportunity in life, helping them in tackling all problems they are facing, trying to raise the level of their needed services and offering them an equal opportunity and rights for employment and help them to work together with all others as an integrated whole.
In order to achieve these goals, Ebtessama made a field survey and many studies to monitor the available services and its quality and to know the rights guaranteed to them. Besides, the foundation organized some annual campaigns including 45 different foundations and associations working on disability and its different kinds aiming to raise the services' level, as well as many wide awareness campaigns, and there were 60 schools children of Greater Cairo participated in its activities and programs.
Despite of the multiplicity of organizations working in this field, there is only a great focus on the first age stage. Whilst there is a lack of organizations that caring about developing the Young Adults with Disability's potencies and skills, and preparing them to be ready for the working life and for the labor market with its competition.
Therefore, Ebtessama gave its activities' priority to the Young Adults with Disability and to prepare and test some samples and programs for their rehabilitation, training and empowering them to lead an equal life with dignity and pride.
Orange also cooperated with Ebtessama Foundation in this charitable initiative through its program "A Right for an Equal Life" that aims to create a process and a system for empowering Young Adults with Disability, offering them an equal opportunity for employment and involving them in society. Through this initiative, Ebtessama Foundation succeeded to rehabilitate hundreds of young adults with disability and employ tens of them in big hotels in Egypt. Mr. Sherif Gameel, who suffers from disability said, "Before joining Ebtessama's program I was unable to walk on my own and could not go out except with the company of one of my parents. I also had no source of income or social relations but after joining the program I was trained to walk alone and conduct work that matches my abilities and this enabled me to be employed as an assistant gardener in Rotana Hotel, Hurghada branch". "I am living a normal social life in Hurghada and now have a health insurance and a pension" Gameel added.
To view the event photos, please check our CSR Photo Gallery.