Doha - The second Annual International Forum of the Shafallah Centre for Children with Special Needs will open at its premises this morning.
The three-day conference, being held under the patronage of H H Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned will take an innovative approach to international alliance and current trends on the right to education for children with special needs.
It will bring together policy makers, educators, persons with disabilities and leaders in the field to discuss how perceptions of disability are formed and transformed through media, creative arts and education.
The conference will open with a speech by Ambassador Luis Gallegos, permanent representative of Ecuador to the United Nations.
Other dignitaries attending the forum include Cherie Booth QC, wife of the British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Jeanette Kagame, First Lady of Rwanda; Dr Zorka Parvanova, First Lady of Bulgaria, Dr Liri Berisha, First Lady of Albania and Margarida Barroso, wife of the EU Commissioner.
Luis Gallegos will speak on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Tim Sebastian, chair of the Doha Debates will introduce the speakers. Hassan Ali bin Ali, chairman of the Shafallah Centre will deliver the welcome address.
The Shafallah Centre partnership to develop a core disability rights resource will be announced at the conference. The resource will be useful for disability organisations and advocates all over the world.
The Best Buddies and the Shafallah Initiative will also be launched on the occasion, which is a social inclusion project fostering friendship between people with special needs and their typically developing peers. Anthony Kennedy Shriver of Best Buddies International will deliver the key note address at this session.
The Shafallah Centre will present a study on the implications of genetics in prevention and care of special needs. An art exhibition showcasing the creations of Shafallah Centre's exceptional students has been set up on the sidelines of the conference.
Several documentaries focusing on disability will be screened at the Forum which will also hear success stories from people with special needs. A series of workshops to raise public awareness on people with special needs will also be held on the sidelines of the conference. The delegates from outside Qatar will include about 250 persons with special needs.
A media center with 30 computers was opened at the premises on Saturday. Along with Hassan Ali Bin Ali, Dr Sheikh Khalid bin Jabor Al Thani, head of the forum's organising committee and a member of the Shafallah's board of directors, Sameera Al Qassim and Ilham Al Nuaimi were present on the occasion.
© The Peninsula 2007
