Believing that people of determination should contribute to educating society about how to deal with them, Fatima Al Jassem, 23, led the UAE to become involved in volunteer work, becoming the first internationally accredited Emirati in the area of ​​facilities for people of determination, and the first Emirati certified in US labor law In 2017, she was honored as one of the UAE's first humanitarian and philanthropic organizations as the owner of the first voluntary community initiative to raise awareness of the art of dealing with people of determination. It is also the first Emirati of the people of determination to skydive «Sky Dive». This makes it a unique model of determination and will, and an ambassador for integration into society.

Fatima believes that there is no limit to man's ability, whatever the circumstances he is going through.

Study and work

Fatima told Emirates Today that she went to the field of volunteering and etiquette to deal with people of determination for nearly six years. She was studying in the second secondary grade of the house and decided to combine study and volunteering. “I felt there was a role to play to educate the community on what we needed to achieve integration with the community, and how to deal with the people of determination,” she said. She pointed out that this year she began to offer an initiative of a special program on integration for school teachers and university professors, and all those working in the field of education, a duration of six hours, in addition to a special program with New York University.

Integration programs

“After six years of tiredness and passion too, this year, in collaboration with NYU Abu Dhabi, I started this year with the first training program on people with disabilities in general, on etiquette and environment standards for inclusion, as well as the global challenges faced by people of determination, and how to create Integration policies. It is a program that I have developed in cooperation with the University, and took almost a year and a half, and is highly interactive, and is the first comprehensive program open to the community for free of charge, and the duration of approximately eight hours, and is offered once every semester at the university. ''

Al Jassim, who studies strategic communication at Zayed University's Faculty of Media and is also a member of the Advisory Council for Empowering People of Determination, said she received accreditation as the first Emirati woman to complete a four-month course at an international American university. Hours.

3 Tips

Fatima Al Jassem, who has been suffering from cerebral palsy since birth and uses a wheelchair, offers three basic tips to consider when dealing with people of determination:

1 Avoiding the gaze of pity while dealing with them, the pity look at first can be a natural reaction, but it must be eliminated because it feels less human than those around him, and has no equal opportunities with others.

2. Do not use or touch their assistive devices, such as the white stick of a blind person, or a wheelchair, because these devices are part of the body of the owner, should not be seized, and if a person wants to try the device must ask permission.

3 It is necessary to deal with people of concern with direct communication, and to maintain visual communication while talking to them, even if communicating with a deaf person is done through an interpreter to indicate, the interpreter should not be addressed and ignored.

- "I felt that there is a role we must play to educate the community on what we need to achieve integration with society, and how to deal with people of determination."

"This year, I started offering the first training program on people of determination in general."