“For a Blind Person to Stand Out, He Has to be the Best”
10/10/2009 01:12:47
Adv. Abbas Abbas founded the Almanarah (Lighthouse) association in order to change the attitude of Arab society towards people with visual disabilities Adv. Abbas Abbas feels that he has to excel. He completed a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in law at Hebrew University; he completed his requirements for an master’s degree in business administration and management of non-profit organizations. (ÇáãÒíÏ)
|
|
in all cases, with extremely high grades. He is currently planning his studies for a doctorate in law,
 |
| Adv. Abbass Abbass |
at Hebrew University or abroad. His physical disability does not bar him from doing so. “It’s as if there is a demon pursuing me. Instead of taking life easy, I have to be the best, to excel, to stand out. As if I owe someone something. That is what is instilled in us: For a blind person to stand out, he has to be the best.”Abbas is founder and director of the Almanarah (Lighthouse) association, which was established in 2005 with the aim of changing the attitude in Arab society in Israel towards people with visual disabilities. Last week it held its first conference, on the occasion of World Disability Day and Human Rights Day, both of which are marked this month.The offices of Almanarah are located in Nazareth, where Abbas grew up and now lives. The office staff firmly rejects the stigma associated with other associations for the blind, according to which their goal is to serve the physical needs of the visually impaired.“We called our association ‘The Lighthouse’ because we think that we should light the path. Not the path of the blind, but the path for society as a whole. Our society is blind. It fails to see the blind,” he said toHa’aretz this week. The association’s goal is to change the perception of people with impaired vision and the blind in Arab society. As part of this, Abbas is trying to inculcate the use of the term “persons with extra abilities” instead of people with disabilities or disabled persons.Abbas says that parents of children with visual disabilities in Arab society do not have the ability to cope with these difficulties. It is estimated that there are 5,000 such families. “The families are very supportive, but don’t really know how to treat us. Many parents think that they should supply material needs and expect us to become a factory for academic grades. But we are like other human beings – we need respect and equal opportunities,” he said yesterday.The blind face difficulties in many spheres. This includes accessibility problems in Arab localities – from neglected sidewalks to public institutions, but also the disregard of the issue in the media and in the public sphere. As Abbas puts it, the Arab public’s efforts to deal with the state or to work for the establishment of a Palestinian state cause a disregard for severe social problems and the exclusion of over 100,000 Arabs with disabilities.The social attitude also includes the social realm, which includes finding life partners. People with various disabilities are considered a poorer match, and in a society where family plays an important part in deciding whom a young person will marry, this becomes very significant. Abbas says that parents of young women try to dissuade them from marrying people with visual disabilities. “The common argument of the parents is that their daughter would have to become the spouse’s caregiver. That is a terrible attitude,” he says.The association is also critical of the establishment, which does not allocate suitable resources for the Arab blind. All of the communications of the blind with the establishment are done only in Hebrew, which makes it difficult for the lesser educated to take care of themselves. This is compounded by an ongoing shortage in budgets, and a policy that makes it difficult for the blind to find work in government ministries, but also in the private sector.Abbas understood how great the shortage is when he returned a few weeks ago from the United States, where anyone who is defined as blind received vision aids and assistance, to a much greater extent than is accepted in Israel. In the US Department of State, he met the woman responsible for the employment of people with disabilities. “To employ people who have a certain disability, it is necessary to invest resources in adjustment, containment and understanding. This does not exist here, either in Arab society or in Jewish society,” says Abbas.Almanarah is also in contact with Jewish organizations. The needs and the difficulties of the two populations are similar, to the point of bridging the national gap. All the same, it is important to Abbas to focus on the Arab public.Nevertheless, a large part of the association’s budget comes from the JDC, within the “Masira (Journey)” Program for Advancing the Status of People with Disabilities in Arab Society in Israel. “I also call upon Arab businesspeople and anyone else who is capable of doing so, to contribute to our activity,” said Abbas, “otherwise we will continue to depend on the funds of aJewish organization like the JDC.”
by Yoav Stern - Haaretz Newspaper