They claimed that this has diverted attention away from the humanitarian side of the issue. Their statements followed a seminar organized by a group of NGOs, known as ‘Forces of 11/11,’ on the premises of the organization Umbrella for Kuwaiti Action, in Shuhada on Sunday evening. Naser Al-Shleimy, Deputy Director of the Kuwaiti Society for Evaluating Parliamentary Performance, said that the group of NGOs decided to adopt the issue of the special needs law.
The NGOs decided to offer help to public service organizations for humanitarian reasons because the issue is being constantly subjected to political maneuvering between the government and the National Assembly," he said.
Representatives of the group of NGOs criticized the government for not attending the parliamentary session designated for the second hearing of the law. The speakers urged the government to fulfill their responsibilities toward people with special needs.
Ali Al-Thouayni, Deputy Head of the Disabled Affairs Follow up Society, urged everyone, including NGOs, to leave the issue of the disabled out of their ‘playground.’ "We have been kept aside in this regard for a long time," he said. "We have already drafted a plan and handed it to all members of Parliament, but it was also ignored.
Al-Thouayni added that it is extremely necessary to concentrate on pivotal issues while deliberating on the disabled law. "The definition of the disabled is very important. We’ve seen an inflated budget for the disabled that is going to people who are not disabled and who only managed to be listed because of their connections," he explained.
Head of Special Needs Society, Ayed Al-Shemmery, said that one of the areas of disagreement between the government and the National Assembly (NA) is who should run the disabled authority. The fact that the proposed law provides coverage for bedoons who are handicapped is a further point of difference between the two groups, he added.
Hamad Al-Merry, representative for the Hearing Disabled Society, said that the law has fallen into a larger arguement between the Government and National Assembly and that it is at the expense of disabled people. "Kuwait does not care about the issues of the disabled or their families," he said.
What happened is a sad and frustrating thing for disabled people, especially considering the law has taken years of discussion and deliberating. We genuinely hope that the session on Feb 2 will not meet the same destiny," Al-Merry concluded.