GIVING PEOPLE WITH SPECIAL NEEDS A CHANCE TO LIVE NORMAL LIVES BY Mohd Hisham Abdul Rafar

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 30 (Bernama) -- Wahed El Tagi may not be a household name in Malaysia but the mental abilities specialist had turned around the lives of over 1,000 development-syndrome disabled people in his home country, Egypt, with his noble work.

Wahed, who had been in the developing mental abililities/skills line for
about 20 years, had trained 1,643 special needs people with various disabilities
such as Down's syndrome, autism and cerebral palsy in Egypt.

Currently the manager of a Cairo-based non-profit organisation, Centre of
People With Special Needs, he said the special-needs people should not be
sidelined but should instead be nurtured to get the best out of them.

"We have to give them a chance. Let the children go out to deal with other
people to show the society that special-needs (people) can do something useful
for themselves and others," he told Bernama here.

Wahed was here to share his experience with 40 local participants in a
one-day workshop organised by the Islamic Outreach Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia
(Malaysian Muslim Youth Movement or Abim) and Persatuan Darul Fitrah Malaysia.

The objective of the workshop was to identify and develop the mental
potential of special-needs people and guide them to self-assimilation with
family life, work and community.

For his training programme, Wahed said he would identify the level of mental
potential of each trainee before dividing them into appropriate categories.

"If they can't follow my programmes, example computer programme, I will
switch them to other programmes which are suitable with their talent," he said.

Wahed, who is currently overseeing 173 students at the centre, said he would
keep a close watch on the progress of each trainee.

"As far as I can remember, the shortest period to train these people is one
year and the longest is four years. But it all depends on their progress," he
said.

He said Malaysians would be able to seek his services soon as he was
planning to open his office here next year.

I will apply a similar approach here," he said.

Islamic Outreach Abim vice-chairman Normah Sulaiman said the workshop would
give awareness to parents and caregivers on how to deal with and develop the
potential of the special-needs people.

"We need to unearth their potential. From these potential skills, they can
move forward in their live and feel better," she said.

A workshop participant, Nur Farizah Abdul Sabhe, said Wahed's approach would
help to erase the negative perception of disabled people.

"Malaysia can slowly implement a similar approach. What is important is
awareness, exposure and opportunities for them. Our special-needs people are
trainable too," she said.
-- BERNAMA