|
AL-MAHDI SPECIAL NEEDS ORGANISATION As part of the services offered at Shia Ithna-Asheri Madressa, we find the Special Needs class. The class was formed in 1988, which catered for children with hearing disabilities and all children with special needs. The main language was English, but the mode of communication was lip-reading and British Sign Language (BSL). Alhamdullillah, this class is still caring on till today. In 1990, the first Ziarat trip to Iraq and Kerbala was organised. The second trip was organised to Iran and Damascus in 1992.
In 1994 on the Wiladat of our 12th Imam (a.s.), "Al-Mahdi Deaf Organisation" was formed.
In 1996, the first Hajj trip for the Deaf was organised.
In 2000 on the Wiladat of 12th Imam (a.s.), the name was changed to "Al-Mahdi Special Needs Organisation" to cater for the needs of all the disabled people.
Every year when Muharram came round, members of our community with hearing disability used to attend majlis in a home environment, where the message of Imam Hussain (as) would be interpreted. Alhamdullillah this carried on for many years and the number of azadars of Imam Hussain (as) using the service, not only from our community, increased. Subsequently in the year 2000 it was decided to have interpreted majlises in the Mosque.
The need for these services is today drawing more attention in our community. Sunday 21st April 2006, saw the beginning of the first ever nationwide disabilities project, the launch of which took place at a consultation event held at the Hujjat Imambarah, Stanmore, London, UK, namely the COEJ HIB disabilities project. One of the main outcome of this event was that, unfortunately, the lack of awareness within the community has left many children, youth, adults, parents and elders isolated and excluded from our community and more needs to be done to address this. Other areas of concern included:
1. Poor access to Jamaat facilities resulting from non functional loop systems, lack of ramps for wheelchair users and narrow doors
2. Lack of support from the community
3. Limited access to Islamic information due to resources unavailable in accessible formats such as Braille, large print, audio etc and the lack of facilities for sign language users to receive information about events and activities
4. Lack of representation at executive level within community structures on a local, national and international level
Lack of subtitles for members of community with hearing disability, to be able to understand majalis, if and when there is no interpreter to translate
|
