CAIRO - "IF the country neglects us, the economy will seriously lose out," says Mohamed Salah, sitting in his wheelchair in front of two rectangular tables, offering colourful handmade accessories for sale.Salah, 50, is the manager of an Egyptian NGO caring for people with special needs, one of seven NGOs participating in a sales exhibition entitled 'Dream, Tomorrow is Yours'. The exhibition, which ends tonight at 10:00, is being held in el- Sawy Cultural Centre, Zamalek. A total of 250 disabled people are members of Salah's NGO. "We offer them medical equipment and consultations, organise seminars for them and teach them how to make handmade products," he told The Egyptian Gazette in an interview. Salah, who worked for an electricity company before establishing his NGO in 2005, came up with the idea of launching his institution while working as a volunteer with some NGOs for people with special needs. "Most of these NGOs use the handicapped as a 'tool' for getting people to make large donations on big occasions," he said, bitterly. Salah complained that the society doesn't really care about these people. He said that, when the Government wants to create special places for them, it doesn't ask them first. "It's as if they want to say that 'we've done something for the disabled'. "We can't use our wheelchairs on the escalators. The more modern metro stations have lifts, but they don't always work. They don't think of us when they're making these things," he explained, adding people like himself are not well represented in the workplace or political life, which means that no-one gets to hear about their problems. Unofficial figures show that there are around 10 million disabled people in Egypt - the figure might be even higher. In el-Sawy Cultural Centre, Salah is exhibiting cheaply priced goods made by his NGO members, such as necklaces, bracelets and beads. Not far from him, there are goods made by the six other NGOs, including leather crafts, ceramics, knitted clothes, carpets, perfumes, woodwork, bamboo furniture and others. "We want to prove they are productive and able to make an impact on society, while our goal is helping them prove their capabilities and motivate them," says Moustafa Mohamed, a student at the British University in Egypt and president of 'Dream' project, which has organised the event, along with the Egyptian Federation for Disabled People. Mohamed and his team started this project last year by visiting special needs NGOs and discussing their problems, pinpointing their abilities and the areas they like working in. The team also visited some companies, restaurants, supermarkets, hotels and call centres; they succeeded in getting some of them to offer jobs to people with special needs, but many refused. "Some of these people with special needs told us that their managers let them stay at home and get paid without working. Unfortunately, these managers think that they cannot benefit from them. It's a misconception in our society," Mohamed says with regret. He and his team want to change this conception and encourage employers to give such people the opportunity to work.The whole idea of the exhibition at el-Sawy is to show people that they are productive and 'have the right' to work. "We are planning many more exhibitions nationwide, so that we can talk to the public and show them the products made by people with special needs. We are going to ask the big shops about making space to sell their products. We have already talked to a big restaurant chain about making a menu in Braille for blind people," Mohamed explains. "We dream that the public will change their mind about them. These people certainly have a lot to offer society."
