Dubai eGovernment has participated as Gold sponsor in the Abu Dhabi Disability International Conference (ADDEX) 2007, held at the Emirates Palace Hotel on March 19-23, under the patronage of HE Maryam Mohd Al Romi, Minister of Social Affairs. Mrs. Rehab Lootah, Dubai eGovernment's eServices Provisioning Manager, presented to the ADDEX participants Dubai eGovernment's initiatives aimed at harnessing the potential of the UAE's differently-abled and making them productive citizens.
"Dubai eGovernment is proud to be part of ADDEX, which gathers hundreds of companies from dozens of countries bringing new ideas and technologies that address various disability issues. It is heart-warming to see numerous groups and individuals showing their concern for the differently-abled citizens of our society, who have as much potential as anyone else to contribute productively to the progress of the country," said Lootah.
"Dubai eGovernment is doing its part in harnessing this potential by offering IT services that empower and educate people with special needs, as it is important that we provide equal access to all IT users regardless of any form of handicaps. Internet technology has made so much progress, but there has been limited awareness campaign on the impact of IT in the lives of the differently-abled. We intend to address this concern through various awareness campaigns and through our participation in events such as ADDEX," added Lootah.
Other challenges faced by advocates of propagating IT literacy among the differently-abled are the absence of special legislation and surveillance for sites dedicated to people with special needs in the Arab countries. At ADDEX, Dubai eGovernment tackled these issues by discussing with participants the role of IT in helping address the challenges of the differently-abled, and presenting IT-enabled services such as Web portals designed to cater to their special needs.
"There are numerous Web sites that deal with issues related to people with special needs. These portals contain invaluable information, which are very helpful particularly to those who do not have easy access to trained professionals or other medical resources. Other sites detail the rights and privileges of differently-abled persons and offer practical advice on how they can best fit in the society," said Lootah.
This year's edition, which was extensively covered by local and international media, featured seminars and workshops on various topics for people with special needs, in addition to plays, concerts, a marathon and a wheel-chair volleyball match. Some 2,000 copies of the holy Quran were also printed in Braille and launched at the event.
Dubai eGovernment is a pioneering initiative in the region to provide online services across the spectrum of corporate and community life in the emirate. It also has a vision to integrateindividually automated government departments under the single umbrella of the eGovernment initiative, thus empowering employees across lines of businesses and levels of government, besides facilitating the lives of citizens and customers of the government. Dubai has taken a lead in the region in deploying eGovernment applications and is among the first few governments in the world to provide such integrated services to its citizens. The eGovernment portal (http://mobile.dubai.ae) is a single contact point masking the complexity of the bureaucratic procedures, and guiding access to all services in the easiest possible way. In addition, the eGovernment initiative seeks to improve and enhance procedures by maximizing the benefit from technology, so that users from all walks of life will be able to utilize the portal for their specific needs with considerable ease.
