JAZAN — A disabled employee at the rehabilitation center in Jazan has alleged that the center is not helping residents develop their skills. Shaddad Al-Subaie said the disabled residents of the center do not have a future as the center does not care about improving their abilities and skills, not even affording them a basic education. "They only provide them with food and water," he said. Al-Subaie said some of the residents are highly talented and given an opportunity they will prove themselves. "As things at the center stand now, residents feel as if they are at the end of a dark tunnel and everyone around thinks of them as retards," he said. "I do not have a degree despite the fact I am over 26. I tried to improve myself and managed to learn two foreign languages. I learned English and Tagalog because I was mixing with the foreign staff." Al-Subaie appeared on a TV show to talk about the bad treatment the disabled received at the rehabilitation center and said he had no hesitation to do so. The former head of the center, Salem Basahi, was relieved of his post following the TV show. Al-Subaie asked the ministry to bring him back. He said, "I was a patient at the center and I applied for a job during a visit of the minister of social affairs to the center. I am hoping that I could serve the handicapped. The minister welcomed my request and signed a letter to employ me. But the head of the center claimed that I was suffering from severe mental retardation. To prove him wrong, I went to King Fahd Hospital for tests. I took the hospital report and went to the minister's office who ordered the center's administration to employ me. This time my request was held for a long time in the manager's office. Finally, he employed me as a cleaner for a salary of SR1,500 a month, despite the fact that I speak two foreign languages fluently.” Al-Subaie suffers from muscular dystrophy. He was admitted to the center when he was seven years old. He asked the Ministry of Social Affairs many times to employ him but the ministry's branch in Jazan kept ignoring him. He then met Jazan Emir Prince Muhammad Bin Nasser who directed that he be given a job that suits his qualifications. The center again did not do anything. Although they claimed he was mentally disabled, he insisted that he was fine and was only suffering physically. “After my TV appearance exposing the inadequacies at the center, I had to take a vacation because of the tension there,” Al-Subaie said. When Al-Subaie was admitted to the center at the age of seven, he began interacting with the Filipino staff and soon started learning Tagalog. In one year, he mastered the language. He was transferred to the male section at the age of 14 where too he was classified as mentally disabled. In the male section, there was a mix of Indian and Filipino staff and they were communicating with each other in English. He picked up the language from them and started speaking English fluently. Al-Subaie became fluent in three languages and with each passing year until he turned 27 he improved his language skills. But no one recognized his skills and he was still classified as mentally disabled. He however was unofficially employed as a translator to help the staff communicate with patients. Al-Subaie denied that the center did anything to help him learn these languages, saying he made all the effort and all the credit should go to the foreign staff. Basahi said, "I respect the decision to remove me from my post as it is the prerogative of the minister. As for Shaddad, he was employed as a supervisor in the maintenance company for a salary of SR1,500. Two months ago, his salary was raised to SR2,500 with various other benefits. To employ him full time was not within our power. We had explained this to him but he refused to understand and complained to the Human Rights Commission and spoke to a local newspaper.” Basahi ruled out any conspiracy against him at the center, saying they were all friends at work and there was mutual respect. “We all worked with the sole goal of serving the patients.”
