Blind people in Egypt face difficulties finding employment despite laws regulating their inclusion in the labour market, finds Ghada Abdel-Kader "Many people treat me as if I were inferior," says Mohamed, (not his real name), a graduate of the Art History Department at Ain Shams University in Cairo. Mohamed is blind, and he feels that society treats him as if he were incapable of doing anything. "I am a human being, and I can manage the highest level of education," Mohamed points out. Mohamed is just one of the estimated 44,000 blind people in Egypt, according to a 2006 census carried out by the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS), though this figure does not give an accurate figure of the number of blind people with special needs, since statistics are not consistently collected. "Some families in the countryside have the misconception that having a disabled child is some kind of disgrace," says Sherifa Massoud, a human resources specialist with the Development Association for Empowering Special Needs (DAESN), an NGO set up in 2008 that aims to develop the potential of visually impaired and blind children to lead independent lives and integrate them into the educational system. Massoud adds that one of the difficulties in collecting accurate statistics comes from the fact that some "families don't even state they have disabled children, calling them 'stupid' instead." In order to correct such problems, the government is working on a detailed database of Egypt's population, with a view to making sure that blind people, and those with other types of disability, are fully represented. According to Gamal El-Din Hussein, general manager of the Disabilities Administration at the Ministry of Manpower and Immigration, the aim is to "classify disabled people according to numbers and type of disability". Egypt's employment legislation stipulates that government institutions and public and private sector employers having 50 or more employees should employ a minimum of five per cent of people with special needs among their total workforce. Violation of this law is punishable by a fine of LE100 for each employee missing below the five per cent bar and/or imprisonment for a term not exceeding one month. According to Ibrahim Ali, media advisor at the ministry, the latter is doing its best to ensure that the law is enforced. There are some 300 employment offices in Egypt's various governorates, for example, and these process applicants with special needs, register data and classify people according to type of disability, field of work and residence. "We try to point people in the direction of the jobs that are available," Ali says. "Sometimes people need to develop their skills in order to get a job, so we also offer training at ministry training centres." According to Mohamed, who is jobless yet is supposed to benefit from the law, while the ministry does a good job in inspecting establishments to see how far they are in accordance with the law, there is still a need to increase the bar above the current five per cent. "The current legislation is very good, but what concerns us is how effectively the law is applied," he said, a concern echoed by Massoud, who commented that too often the law is ignored. "Many private institutions are not committed to employing five per cent disabled people, and the government is not effective in following up those who break the law," she said. Other blind people also complain that they do not currently benefit from the legislative provisions that are in place. Mustafa, 27, graduated four years ago and cannot find a job, a result, he argues, of the five per cent rule not being applied. "There are no jobs open to us, and the five per cent quota is not applied. I have sent applications to different companies but have never once been contacted," Mustafa says. El-Sayed (not his real name), 31 years old, has a similar tale to tell. A graduate of the History Department at the Faculty of Arts at Ain Shams University, El-Sayed has not worked for the last two years despite sending off many applications. "I have applied for many jobs, but each time I am rejected. Sometimes I am even told that as a disabled person I would not be an efficient employee," he says. However, according to El-Sayed, the present system of quotas can sometimes work, if not in the way it was planned. "One company took my documents and hired me on paper in order to fulfil the five per cent quota the law stipulates, which qualifies it for a tax cut," he said. However, he was later told that as a blind person there was no appropriate job for him to do and that he could stay at home and receive a low salary as a form of aid. Since the world of formal employment is often closed to Egypt's blind, whatever the law may say, many blind people have found other activities for themselves apart from work. Asked about his free time, Mustafa says "I don't have free time. I have taken several computer courses, and I like reading scientific books and works on history. I also spend time on the Internet." Ahmed Fekri, 25, a graduate of the History Department at the Faculty of Arts, has also taken a number of computer courses with a view to fulfilling his dream of working as a computer programmer. He is also a volunteer for the charity Resala and has taught computer skills. However, Ahmed's greatest hobby is reading, and he likes to read books of tafseer (commentaries on the Quran) and other books on religion and politics. Ahmed Abdel-Hamid, 25, who graduated from the Mass Communication Department at the Faculty of Arts two years ago, would also like to become a computer programmer and finish his studies in America. While he enjoys reading, Abdel-Hamid points out that there is no special library for the blind in Egypt aside from the Bibliotheca Alexandria in Alexandria, which has works in Arabic and other languages. Abdel-Hamid loves geography, and his dream is that one day he will be able to develop a computer programme that will enable blind people to interact with geography on a computer. His family never makes him feel blind, he explains, adding that "my father was a great support. He did his best to get me anything I wanted. From my earliest years onwards, my mother learned Braille so that she could study with me." At present there are few learning tools to enable Egypt's blind to develop their skills. According to Alaa Farid, a DAESN trainer, a Braille terminal is easy to use and is an invaluable tool for the blind or visually impaired. Consisting of a screen that can be read by hand, the system is available in Arabic and other languages, though one drawback is that most of the programmes available are only available in English. Using the terminal is one of the training programmes offered by DAESN, which emphasises that while there are opportunities for the blind in Egypt, there is also a need for providing them with training such that they can join the workforce in their own right. Jobs that blind people could be trained to do include positions in call centres, customer services and telesales, according to Massoud. In partnership with another NGO, the Wanaya International Foundation for Integration and Awareness, and the International Labour Organisation and local businessmen, DAESN is assisting blind people in finding jobs and work opportunities, and it has held meetings with the Department for Disability Affairs at the Ministry of Manpower and aims to set up a joint programme soon. "The idea is that the ministry will direct job seekers to us to train them and that it will assist in finding them jobs in the public sector," Massoud said. Wanaya aims to help people understand and live with persons with disabilities. The aim is not only to raise awareness, but also to provide educational, legislative and developmental programmes that integrate children and adults with disabilities into society. According to DAESN's director, Lilli Atallah, the NGO rejects the current five percent quota as ineffective, adding that the task must be to find real job opportunities for the blind. According to Hossam El-Din Mustafa, director of the Wanaya Foundation, while large multinational companies often employ the blind and give them opportunities like those of any other employee, small companies and those in the public or governmental sector tend to employ blind people without giving them the opportunities accorded to other employees. For its part, "Wanaya is working with companies, giving training courses on how to interact with blind people and training courses for blind people themselves," he said. ACCORDING to the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS), a 2006 census found that there were 44,152 blind people in Egypt, 27,192 of whom were male and 16,960 female. The same census put the number of disabled people at 951,152, 610,432 of whom were male and 340,720 female. A KEY part of DAESN's activities consists of developing the capacities of blind people and providing them with job placement, by providing free training in computer and communication skills for young people, for example. These courses started in 2009, and over the next two years DAESN plans to train 160 people and provide job placement and follow up in companies and other work places. The DAESN project is financed by the Sawiris Foundation for Social Development, with the Orascom Telecom Holding Company donating the Braille terminals and software, each of which costs 4,000 euros.
