An estimated 1% of the Palestinian population is mentally handicapped, but there are very few organizations for their education and rehabilitation. The Network went to talk to Na'ila Rabah of Al-Nahda Rehabilitation Center (established in 1972 by the Women's association) and Rauda Marouf and Matthias Hui of the Star Mountain Center of the Moravian Church. They gave us an impression of the challenges faced in this sector of special education.
Na'ila Rabah: 'We believe that each child has the right to education regardless of 'normality' and that the community should provide such education. However, disabled children are stigmatized by society, and parents, for this reason, are reluctant to expose their disabled children to the outside world. When we first started the center, the staff had to go out into the community to look for the children and convince their families to let them join the program. It was and is especially difficult to attract girls as parents worry about abuse. Nowadays children are referred to us by schools, clinics, community centers - or by the parents themselves.' Star Mountain children are referred in similar ways, but when it was first established in 1980, in the beautifully located premises of a former leprosy hospital near Ramallah, the first staff, a nun and a teacher, also had to go out to find children for the center. Today, Star Mountain has 17 boarders (girls between the ages of 8 and 12) and 7 day pupils (boys and girls aged 6 to 12) - and a long waiting list. They are given up to 3 and 5 years of rehabilitation.
At present 75 children with mild to moderate mental disabilities - 23 girls and 44 boys from age four upwards - are enrolled in al-Nahda. Na'ila: 'We provide an academic program for children aged four to fourteen, divided into groups according to mental age. From ages 14 and upwards we provide pre-vocational and vocational training. Our programs are tailored to the mental age of the child and are meant to stretch each child's potential to the limit. Our 30 -- member staff aims to equip disabled children with those skills necessary to increase social, physical and economic independence.'
Rauda: 'We offer a variety of activities according to the child's mental capacities. Besides Arabic, mathematics, conversation, handicrafts, drawing and music we teach self-help (such as getting dressed and washing) and work in the household, the garden and our small farm. This is in addition to individual work with the child, such as speech therapy. However, we don't offer any rehabilitation to children beyond the age of 14. After children finish their time at Star Mountain, it very much depends on the parents what becomes of them. Some work in their villages, help local teachers or their mothers, others do embroidery. We try and follow up as much as we can.'
Al-Nahda teaches students vocations like carpentry, sewing and agriculture, so they can work once they are ready to leave the center and integrate into society. However, job opportunities for persons with disabilities are very limited. So far the center has found employment for only four students, and even this was done through personal rather than professional contacts. Most of the trained students are employed in the center's wooden toy workshop which also serves as a training site. As al-Nahda (like Star Mountain) depends on outside funding and most students are unable to pay fees, it also provides them with some income. The toys produced are sold to mainstream schools and other rehabilitation centers, and they are used in the toy library, a unique project in the West Bank that encourages skill development through play for both disabled and non-disabled children.
Na'ila: 'Many of the children referred to al-Nahda are simply slow learners and we believe they should be mainstreamed. As local schools are not equipped to deal with such children, part of our staff works in so-called resource rooms in schools in Ramallah to help students with learning weaknesses. This program component is partly therapeutic, partly preventive. Our center itself does not deal with these cases, nor do we have the professional capacity to deal with more severe cases. If there were sufficient other rehabilitation, we would like to look after severely mentally disabled children, for whom no services whatsoever exist at present.' Star Mountain hopes to increase its village work and its day school section. Moreover, it would like to help to train teachers and establish an employment program for boys through developing the center's grounds.
Star Mountain places great importance on its relations with the parents, developed through home visits and training sessions in the center itself. Reactions to these initiatives have been committed and positive.
Matthias: Sometimes the mother needs more training than the child. For example, one of our girls, who is ten years old, went to a normal school until recently. We went to visit her mother in the village. She has four handicapped children, and works under enormous pressure. She is very keen to learn how to care for and teach her daughter, and this will help her to look after her other children too.'
Na'ila: 'Unless we can enlist the support of the authorities, the future for children with disabilities will remain very bleak. Rehabilitation organizations are competing with each other for funding. Instead, we should coordinate, exchange ideas and compose a national plan based on local experience and needs. We would like to see a decentralized, community-based approach, with more mainstreaming and the establishment of special education departments in local universities.' Up to now, organizations have to train their own staff, perhaps through joint training courses or by sending them abroad. Matthias: 'Most efforts in this field are either individual or foreign, and located in the central region [of the West Bank], and even these can only accommodate a limited number. The law calls for free, compulsory education -- this should be applied to mentally disabled children too. Up to now, the PNA has not shown much commitment,' says Matthias. 'We are struggling to get handicapped children involved in the National Plan of Action for Children that is being written at present. [See Children Take Over PNA, p.13]. Even though the Ministry of Education has attended our open days, they have failed to offer us official recognition or practical support. Our status is unclear, and most of our dealings are through the Ministry of Social Welfare.' Six local and international organizations have joined in a network to coordinate and lobby for legislation.
The community still has a negative attitude towards disability. Na'ila: 'We're trying to change this. Sometimes we speak at schools, or invite people to come and visit the center. We also encourage university students to undertake their community work component with us. Star Mountain organizes open days, bazaars and lectures for other organizations, and for schools, parents and inhabitants of the neighboring villages. I think our biggest challenge is to raise people's awareness and to help them see these children's potential - regardless of their mental abilities.'
Elaine Clark
Educational Network, POB 66, Ramallah, West Bank
tel: 02 995 6230/fax: 02 995 6231 e-mail: eclark@ednet.birzeit.edu