Qaderoon Business Disability Network has organized two awareness forums under memorandums of understanding (MoU) signed earlier with both the Jeddah and Eastern Province Chambers of Commerce and Industry to discuss the role of companies in hiring persons with disabilities. The forums were held in collaboration with the Tawafuq Program, an initiative of the Ministry of Labor and Human Resources Development Fund. Qaderoon Business Disability Network aims to support the hiring of persons with disabilities and include them into the Saudi workforce. Recent available data showed that the number of persons with disabilities has reached to almost one billion worldwide, or 15% of the world's population. Abdulrahman AlWabil, Secretary General of the Eastern Province Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the MoU allows more cooperation through various plans being developed in order to raise the awareness of companies to include persons with disabilities in the workforce. He further said "cooperation with Qaderoon will enable us to discuss and explore the challenges that stand in their way to merge into the labor market, and try to overcome these challenges through solutions suggested by officials and specialists in the field." AlWabil added that the Eastern Chamber of Commerce always strives to offer its services to all by participating in various specialized fields which would benefit the society in collaboration with experienced parties. Moreover, Qaderoon Network's Executive Manager, Khalid Sindi, noted that there are barriers that face persons with disabilities in search for jobs, and therefore "we should consider all the important standards when preparing the work environment for them, which includes all aspects of a company, such as its HR policies, recruitment procedures, communication channels, and others to ensure harmony and to provide support to people with disabilities." The Eastern Province forum included a presentation by Dr. Mervat Tashkandi, an advisor to the Ministry of Labor, about the essential role of policies and implementing regulations to support the hiring of persons with disability. She cited a couple of projects that the Ministry of Labor is currently working on which aims to encourage institutions in the private sector to hire more people of this segment. Dr. Tashkandi underscored the importance of changing the society's perception of persons with disability from "sympathy" to "empowerment and enablement of rights," noting that a person with disability has the right to work and merge within the labor market supported by the right environment. The human resources departments should provide the support policies and procedures of hiring personnel from this workforce segment, Dr. Tashkandi added.
