As many as 120 differently-abled students of HOPE Qatar Centre for Special Needs enthralled a capacity audience at Qatar Foundation's Awsaj Academy auditorium during their 17th annual day cultural extravaganza.
Held under the theme 'Emoticons,' students with varying range of intellectual and physical challenges put on a performance that demonstrated their hidden abilities.
The two-hour event had over 18 performances, each aligned to a theme of a specific emotion such as happiness, sadness, fear, courage and love to name a few.
As in earlier years, the team at HOPE ensured that every student was given an opportunity to join in the event on stage. There was also a dance performance by the alumni of HOPE Qatar.
Indonesian ambassador Ridwan Hassan in a message expressed his appreciation for the efforts of the teachers and management of HOPE Qatar who have opened up a host of opportunities for differently-abled children and youth in Qatar over the last 17 years.
Bangladesh ambassador Md Nazrul Islam highlighted the efforts his country was taking to ensure that persons with disabilities are mainstreamed and given opportunities in all walks of life.
In seeing the various initiatives that HOPE Qatar has put in place to ensure Help, Opportunity, Participation and Education which form the acronym HOPE, he sees an organisation that is implementing a similar approach in Qatar too.
Indian embassy first secretary Dr Vaibhav Tandale in a message related how his past experience as a paediatrician has brought him closer to understanding the needs of neurodiverse children, and he could visualise the efforts put in by the HOPE Qatar team to ensure that all the students at the centre are given a platform to demonstrate their abilities in front of the audience.
In her message to the audience, Eman al-Naemi, director of Special Education Centres Department at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education expressed her joy at the talents demonstrated by the children on stage.
She appreciated the efforts of the centre in bringing out a positive impact in the children under its care.
She was attending the event as a special guest together with other representatives of the ministry.
HOPE Qatar founder and managing director Dr Rajeev Thomas in his message recounted his journey of life as a parent of a child with special needs, and related to the theme of HOPE's 17th annual day 'Emoticons' which is all about the various emotions individuals, especially parents go through when they have a child with special needs.
He narrated the transition of emotions from happiness at the birth of the child, to fear and sorrow on identifying that the child has special needs. He said that this emotion would then become one of curiosity when the parents try to learn more about the condition of the child.
Once the emotion of acceptance sets in, then parents could look forward to doing their best to ensure that the child is ready to face the world as they grow into adulthood, he concluded. He also reminded parents to be realistic in their expectations for their differently-abled children, and never to compare them with other children.
Dr Mark David Hughes, executive director of Special Needs Education at Qatar Foundation, Omar Nasser al-Khanji who pioneered the formation of Best Buddies in Qatar, and a delegation from Nest International Academy and Research Center (Niarc) an award winning centre for special needs in India were other special guests.
HOPE Qatar Centre for Special Needs, established in 2005, caters to students with a range of disabilities in the age group of four to 20. They receive a range of academic and therapeutic interventions at the centre.
