The State print house has completed the printing of the Law for Rights of Persons with Disability in Braille, for the benefit of the visually impaired. The Braille version of the law is now available for purchase in State outlets in Cairo and Alexandria. The act is more of symbolic of solidarity and empathy with persons of visual disability, since the law is available as an online word document and, as such, has been accessed by the visually impaired.
Last February the law was ratified by President Sisi after it was passed by the House of Representatives. The law includes 58 articles in eight chapters which cover health and medical rights for persons with disability; their right to education, vocational training and work, and the State’s commitment towards securing these rights. They also tackle legal and criminal protection for persons with disability, and their political rights. A chapter is devoted to their right to sports and entertainment, and the final chapter covers penalties against violators of the law.
Among the law’s more positive features is that it has, for the first time in Egypt, placed a non-ambiguous definition for ‘disability’ in its first article, and criminalised discrimination based on disability. It secures the rights of persons with disability to benefit, equally with non-disabled persons, from all State services: education, transport, health, social security, and others. The estimated number of persons with disability in Egypt amounts to some 13 million.
The move to print the law in Braille comes within President Sisi’s directives to provide State support for persons with disability and is in line with the United Nations resolution to mark 4 January every year as World Braille Day. This year, 2019, marked the first such celebration.
Watani International
22 January 2019
