Research and Studies

Abstract

In Palestine, the main social organ in civil society concerned with disability ‎issues (which includes both physical disabilities and learning difficulties) is ‎the Palestine Union for the Disabled, with its headquarters in Ramallah and ‎branches in each of the major centres of population. Having said that, two ‎problems are immediately apparent. Firstly, there is the lack of resources – ‎with access especially to more adequate financial resources; the Union ‎could immediately accomplish a lot more than it actually does. Secondly, ‎there is the problem of how society itself views disability: there is a lack of ‎awareness - too much ignorance and not enough interest - concerning the ‎problems of disabled people and how society views and treats them.

Background

The disabled in Palestinian society,  according to the statistics ‎published by Palestinian Statistic Central Office, the registered ‎disabilities with different types is 3% of the Palestinian society, this ‎means in numbers about 120.000 persons are suffering the disability. ‎We should add to the number the severely retarded cases and it's ‎estimated at 70.000 cases, plus other disabilities that are not recorded ‎with any involved institutions.‎

This group of people, and their families are marginalized for many ‎reasons, and they need any type of guidance to How, Where, What, ‎Who, and When , these are some questions related to the daily life of ‎disabled persons and their families.‎

We intended to answer many questions starting with this WH ‎questions, for this we discovered that we should go down to the roots, ‎what is available, at present, for the families and their children? What ‎are their actual needs? How they see their disabled children, in what ‎content? How, what is their relation with bodies that serve this ‎group?‎