International Day of Persons with Disabilities commemorated in UNIFIL

Guest speaker Michael Haddad gives an inspirational speech at the event held at UNIFIL to commemorate International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

Young students from Mosan wait off stage before their dance performance at UNIFIL headquarters in Naqoura.

Students from Mosan perform an impressive dance at the event held at UNIFIL to commemorate International Day of Persons with Disabilities.  

Singers from Ayta Ash Sh’ab impress the audience of civilian and military peacekeepers.

Dancers from Mosan create another world on the stage in an event held at UNIFIL to commemorate International Day of persons with Disabilities.

A choir from Suq al Khan (Hasbaya) perform festive songs at the event held at UNIFIL to highlight the role people with special needs play in our societies.

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9 Dec 2016

International Day of Persons with Disabilities commemorated in UNIFIL

Michael Haddad, the guest speaker, was inspiring. He spoke openly about the challenges he overcame after he was declared 75 per cent paralyzed from a Jet Ski accident at the young age of six. To date he has hiked across mountains, broken records and received countless awards. He was invited by UNIFIL to commemorate International Day of persons with Disabilities at an event held on Thursday in a marquee called the Rub Hall in the UN Mission’s Headquarters in Naqoura.

The event was uplifting. Albagir Adam, UNIFIL’s Head of Civil Affairs, said, “This group (persons with disabilities) within society deserves attention. The United Nations’ theme in 2016 is to achieve the 17 sustainable development goals.”

Since 1992, the United Nations has commemorated this day to highlight the role people with special needs play in our societies. This year UNIFIL invited four schools from south Lebanon to hear Michael Haddad speak. They were Ayta Ash Sh’ab, Mosan, Sadr Foundation and Suq al Khan (Hasbaya).

The young people also performed songs and danced for the assembled audience of civilian and military peacekeepers. Monita Youssof, a UNIFIL civilian peacekeeper, also performed a song she had composed.

During yesterday’s UNIFIL event, Michael Haddad ended his speech with a real sense of optimism, “Success, true living, true being, is a collective mind set towards the upper values of humanity towards peace and what peace resembles.”

There is no official figure on the total number of persons with disability (PWDs) in Lebanon. However, the Lebanese government started to issue disability cards in the 1990s. According to this policy, PWDs can register voluntarily with the Ministry of Social Affairs.

According the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in Lebanon the total number of people registered with a disability card at the end of January 2013 is 80,703. South Lebanon, which haus endured decades of conflict, accounted for about 20 per cent of the registered persons with disability (PWD), 5% higher than the national average.

 

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Article: Aoibheann O'Sullivan
Video Editor: Mohammad Hamze, Suzane Badereddine
Video Camera: Mohammad Hamze
Photo: Pasqual Gorriz
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