Rima Canawati

Rima Canawati has dedicated her professional life to the needs of disabled people in her community and throughout Palestine. 

She lost her own sight completely in her late teenage years, but has overcome this disability to rise to the top of her profession where she is now Director of Programme Development at the Bethlehem Arab Society for Rehabilitation.

Life in the Occupied Palestinian Territories remains harsh across all aspects of life, and within the wider context of daily survival little emphasis is placed on the needs of disabled people.  

Rima supervises the work of 5 day care centres which are located in different villages and refugee camps within Bethlehem. The centres provide children with rehabilitation and special education in the areas of self help skills, behavioural modification, motor skills development, language development, and cognitive and personality development. The centres also provide services such as toy libraries, summer camps, drama lessons, and vocational training which are generally unavailable for children and young people due to a lack of public spaces and public support.

In particular, one day care centre is dedicated to the needs of mentally-disabled young people, helping them gain vocational training in skills such as agriculture, loom weaving, olive wood carving, and making quality products from recycled paper. This has improved the quality of life for many young adults, and has helped foster positive attitudes amongst families and the wider community. 

Playtime at the daycare centre

Over the years, Rima’s work has contributed greatly towards changing negative societal attitudes towards disability, and people with disabilities. She educates families in order to increase their understanding of disability, and support them to better cope with disabled family members. This has encouraged many more families to recognise the signs of disability at an early age and to seek support and advice. Rima has pursued ongoing dialogue with the Palestinian Authorities, seeking support for the basic social integration and education of children and young adults with disabilities.

At a national level, Rima has been lobbying universities to establish degree-level courses in special education so that there can be a supply of trained professionals to meet the needs of people with disabilities. She has also successfully lobbied the Ministry of Education to set a national policy for special needs provision and support, which has resulted in many disabled children being able to attend regular schools following thorough preparation at one of the day care centres.

Rima works extensively with local and international organisations in the field of disability: she is deputy Chair of the Middle East Regional Committee of the International Council for the Education of People with Visual Impairments; is a member of UNICEF working groups; and is on the steering committee for the Disability Monitor Initiative in the Middle East.

In addition, Rima has presented papers and participated in many international conferences that seek to address the human rights of people with disabilities, travelling to the Far East, USA, Europe and Bangladesh.

Bethleham Arab Society for Rehabilitation
www.basr.org