How to deal with People of Determination…A symposium at Faculty of Al-Alsun

The Community Service and Environmental Development Affairs Sector at the Faculty of Al-Alsun, Ain Shams University, in cooperation with the University's Social Solidarity Unit, organized a symposium entitled "How to deal with people of determination", under the auspices of Dr. Nevin Al-Kabbaj, Minister of Social Solidarity, Prof. Dr. Mahmoud El-Metini, President of Ain Shams University, and the supervision of Prof. Dr. Salah Hashem, Advisor to the Ministry of Social Solidarity, Prof. Dr. Hesham Tamraz, Vice President for Community Service and Environmental Development, Prof. Dr.. Salwa Rashad, Dean of the Faculty, and coordinated by Prof. Dr. Gehan Ragab, Advisor to the Vice President for Community Service and Environmental Development Affairs and Protocol Coordinator for the Community Service and Environmental Development Affairs Sector, Prof. Dr. Youmna Safwat, Vice Dean for Community Service and Environmental Development Affairs.

Prof. Dr. Salwa Rashad announced the events of the symposium, stressing that the Faculty of Al-Alsun at Ain Shams University won the first place in the competition of the most cooperative bodies to serve the blind at the level of Egyptian universities for several years, and it has a specialized library to serve blind and visually impaired students. Postgraduate studies, faculty and support staff are blind, visually impaired and people with disabilities, and aim to enable blind and visually impaired students to be self-reliant, even partially, in their university life.

The library is concerned with making the text electronic version available, converting it to an electronic audio format, printing it in Braille or printing it in a large font according to the needs of each person and the individual differences between students. The library contains a set of computers, scanners, and Braille printers.

While Prof. Dr. Youmna Safwat, Vice Dean for Community Service and Environmental Development Affairs, said that the faculty has about 140 students of determination, and the faculty has a distinguished infrastructure at the level of laboratories with computers equipped with special software to facilitate students’ interaction with them and take their exams themselves using them, pointing out that the faculty is in its entirety. And its administrations contribute to facilitating the task of people of determination in their various requirements and providing an appropriate environment for their uses, noting the participation of students of determination in the various activities offered by the faculty to students of determination, cultural, sports, artistic, and achieving an advanced position during the various competitions at the university level.

Prof. Dr. Youmna Safwat confirmed that the symposium coincides with the celebration of the International Day of People with Special Needs and aims to spread awareness in the university community about the most important points that must be considered when dealing with people of determination inside or outside lecture halls in order to feel equal to their colleagues.

The faculty administration was keen on the attendance of employees from different departments, especially the departments of Student Affairs, Graduates and Youth Welfare, in order to provide them with the necessary information in dealing with students of determination from the faculty students.

Dr. Mostafa El-Shahed, a medical teacher at Ain Shams University and Deputy Director of the Disability Service Center at the university, explained that the university has established a center to serve students of determination, located behind the Saffron Palace on the main campus of the university, and is working to coordinate the efforts of all university sectors and external parties to support students and transform the university environment to suit their needs. The uses of students with their different needs, to practice their lives more effectively.

He stressed that the concept of dealing with people of determination is a culture that we must contribute to spreading in the Egyptian society, stressing that there are many misconceptions spread among members of society, explaining that disability is in the place and not in the individual, so using the means of assistance replaces disability, and stressed the importance of respecting the abilities of People of determination and not to excessively offer offers to help in their daily work that they can practice.

He stressed that the celebration of people of determination would have no value if we did not know how to deal with them and what to offer them. He pointed out that the Egyptian law approved eleven types of disabilities, including temporary disabilities; They are any accidental causes that occur to any person that cause him to be unable to carry out his normal life functions for a period.

Ms. Reham Abdel Rahman, coordinator of the Social Solidarity Unit at Ain Shams University, indicated that the social solidarity unit at the university is new and is directly affiliated with the Ministry of Social Solidarity, and its headquarters are in the university city. The unit aims to serve students to overcome all the obstacles and life pressures they face, and clarified the axes of the unit’s work (economic empowerment and social protection - awareness activities - volunteering and inspection visits) and announced the scholarship for outstanding students in five scientific faculties at the university level, estimated at 1,000 pounds per month for a year, and it will continue The scholarship is in the event that the student maintains his academic rank in the Faculty. The scholarship also includes graduate students with an equivalent of 25 thousand pounds annually divided into two payments, and one thousand pounds per month for outstanding students at the graduate level.

The unit is also concerned with subsidizing all students and workers, especially students of determination, and providing them with their various requirements of assistive compensatory devices, as well as providing partial or full support for student projects, as well as facilities for youth loans from banks to implement their projects, developing and helping them implement small financing projects.

Dr. Gehad Ibrahim, a teacher at the Faculty of Girls, Ain Shams University and the former parliamentarian for People of Determination for the year 2020, confirmed that we as people with disabilities already suffer from many obstacles, so she is making a great effort as a deputy in the Egyptian House of Representatives in order to put in place legislation and laws that remove these obstacles and work to improve lives Every person with a disability, to be rightly a source of hope from under the dome of Parliament for every person with a disability, and she said: “My hope is that our view of ourselves and society’s view of us will change, and that the media will stop showing people with disabilities in films and serials selling tissues and paper at traffic lights. It is not right to underestimate our status and our capabilities, for the disabled is not a physical handicap, but rather a mentally handicapped.”

She reviewed her life from the beginning of the polio that she was born with, which changed the course of her life for the better, and it was the strongest motive for her to excel in all academic levels, her academic and athletic excellence, her winning of multiple championships, many medals, and the Egypt Cup as well.

In the end, the symposium witnessed the honoring of the Social Solidarity Unit for some of the challenge heroes in the Faculty: the student Abdul Rahman Mahmoud in the second year in the Department of Arabic Language and the student Muhammad Ahmed Abdel Malik in the second year in the Department of Italian Language for their academic excellence and honoring the student Rawan Khalil in the third year in the Department of Arabic Language for obtaining the third place in Karate in the World Championship for People of Determination in Dubai 2021.