Sasol, the international integrated chemicals and energy company, as part of its ongoing efforts to promote inclusion and accessibility under its Definitely Able and Accessible Qatar initiatives, launched a series of films on disability inclusion at the Doha International Conference on Disability and Development (DICDD).
The Doha International Conference on Disability and Development was held on 7th and 8th December 2019, under the guidance and patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, founder of Qatar Foundation for Social Work, to highlight and address the issues and challenges faced by persons with disabilities, which affect more than 1.5 billion people across the world.
The films, released as part of Sasol’s leading CSR initiatives Definitely Able and Accessible Qatar, represent the daily lives and issues the disabled community encounter and include films on hearing impairment and on wheelchair users. The short films highlight respect for the disabled community and how they are breaking stereotypes.
The film on hearing impairment highlighted the life and everyday scenarios of the hearing-impaired community members. It showed how they are definitely able to have full lives and expressed their desire to be treated equally.
The film representing the wheelchair users displays the disregard with which people can treat those in a wheelchair and emphasises the need to respect people who are disabled. Both films were displayed on the main screen during the DICDD exhibition.
Amal Abdullatif Al-Mannai, CEO QSWF commented, “We are grateful for the work conducted by Sasol’s Accessible Qatar initiative and its ambassadors in promoting inclusion and accessibility in the country. We hope more companies from the private sector apply similar corporate social responsibility approaches. The awareness films launched at the DICDD exhibition truly represent the daily lives of the disabled community. I urge everyone to watch them and share widely to help promote awareness and inclusion in our community.”
Chris Molefe, President of Sasol in Qatar said, “Sasol is delighted to support the Doha International Conference on Disability and Development through our Definitely Able and Accessible Qatar initiatives, and to launch our films about disability inclusion on this prestigious platform. The films have received acclaim from the conference attendees for the way they show the issues as well as the capabilities of hearing impaired people and wheelchair users and how they are changing stereotypes about disabled people in the community.”
These short films on disability inclusion for hearing and mobility impairment can be viewed on the Accessible Qatar website AccessibleQatar.com. Last year in October 2018, Sasol launched a series of
6 short films to raise awareness about the challenges that the blind and visually impaired face in their daily lives on the occasion of International Cane Day.
The DICDD was organised by Qatar Social Work and has offered a new approach in dealing with issues faced by persons with disabilities, based on an inclusive look at development and empowerment policies and programs, basic principles of human rights and the strong, practical will to effect change. The conference witnessed the participation of key individuals, including representatives of United Nation organisations, relevant global, regional and national institutions, civil society organisations and stakeholders.
