UAE Government moves to encourage more sport for disabled people

ABU DHABI // When people with disabilities compete on the sports field, the surge of energy that propels them forward makes them feel anything is possible.
Dr Basheer Al Rashidi has seen the power of sport transform the life of a disabled person first-hand.
"When my son became disabled, he began to recover only when he started taking part in sport again," says Dr Al Rashidi, a family and social adviser.
"His self-esteem returned. He stopped being the victim and seeing his disability as a barrier."
Sport, experts agree, helps the disabled to heal, grow and enjoy a new lease on life.
"For everyone, playing sport is a way to renew life, to invigorate the mind and body, to strengthen morale," says Hussein Al Sheikh, the assistant undersecretary for social welfare at the Ministry of Social Affairs.
These same benefits accrue for people who live with disabilities, Mr Al Sheikh says. No matter how the disability came about, there is often a loss of self-esteem that has to be redeemed. And one of the best ways to regain lost self-esteem was through sport.
Putting athletes with disabilities back into action is a key part of helping them to maintain their general health, says Mohammed Al Hameli, the deputy chairman of the Zayed Higher Organisation for Humanitarian Care and Special Needs.
"Sport helps people with special needs progress and develop a great deal because it transfers them to a new stage," Mr Al Hameli says.
And Mr Al Sheikh credits sport as the best way to combat feelings of isolation, or "thoughts about life having no meaning".
"Playing sport brings back competitiveness and helps with social integration, and helps the disabled to stay connected to the rest of society," he says.
Physical exertion through a competitive sport can be a cure and a form of entertainment, says Dato Buzarin, the president of the Asian Paralympic Committee in Malaysia.
"Sport is a common language, it creates a unified force," Dato Buzarin says.
He was in the country in March, taking part in the two-day UAE International Forum for Disabled Sports 2011. Speakers at the forum stressed that taking part in sport is the first step of recovery for a person with a disability.
Ali Harzallah, the president of the Arab Union of Sports for Special Groups, says the key is to use the healthy body parts and train the disabled areas.
"There are a lot of disabled people who have proven themselves through sport; a lot, not just a few," Mr Harzallah says.
"And why? Because participating and winning gives them wings. It gives them hope in life and helps them fight against their disability."
The next step, says Mr Al Sheikh, is to promote reverse inclusion; to have able-bodied people take part in competitions at disabled centres.
"We managed to get disabled people out of their homes and playing sport," he says.
"Now, the goal is not to do a special service for the disabled but for everyone, so not to say this person is disabled, or define them by their disability, but to address them by name."
 
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