Blog 2: ability or social status
The identity I am choosing that is different from my own is that of a person with a physical disability. Our time in Fes made me curious about how a physically disabled person would be able to go about and travel in their daily lives in Morocco. After doing some research, I found that “in Morocco, 727,833 people live with a disability, representing 5.5% of the population,” (United Nations Development Programme). Although that is a large number, there are many obstacles, like social acceptance and access to services, that disabled people face everyday. As a result, UNDP Morocco has begun to make strives to combat this. They have constructed wide passages with ramps to make places more accessible to people in wheelchairs. They have also been creating parking spaces specifically for the disabled. Morocco also has an inclusive recruitment policy which prevents discriminatory recruitments practices in places of work and school. Along with all of these physical improvements, the UNDP has also committed to raising awareness and training people to better understand the world of disabilities.
Editorial: I chose this topic because of the very narrow passage ways and hills we were walking through in Fes. After reading the article, I think the work of the UNDP is very admirable and important to the community in Morocco. I also understand why it’s hard to make places like Fes more accessible to people with physical disabilities as they are trying to preserve the culture, history, and … of the Medina. I do however think it’s important to make the small changes we can to help improve the lives of people with physical disabilities. This could look like adding ramps where there are stairs or creating government service providers who are there to help with the movement or daily activities of people who wouldn’t otherwise be able to travel about the Medina. In the end, the more urban places in Morocco are making great strives to make the country more accessible, but more rural places still have some ways to go before being full accessible to all.
United Nations Development Programme. (2023, December 3). Towards an inclusive society: UNDP Morocco’s commitment to support persons with disabilities. https://www.undp.org/arab-states/blog/towards-inclusive-society-undp-moroccos-commitment-support-persons-disabilities
I really enjoyed reading your research and personal opinions on physical disabilities in Morocco. With the extremely narrow streets of the medinas, stairs, and steep hills, I can see how navigating the various cities we have visited would be a challenge for a person with a physical disability. I was surprised but glad to hear the efforts being made to make Morocco more accessible. However, I do believe it will take a very long time for those efforts to be implemented within the walls of the medinas. I would be interested to know how that 5.5% is distributed across the country, which cities have the highest population of people with a physical disability, and what efforts are being made within those cities.
ReplyDeleteI am glad that you wrote about the accessibility issue because I have been thinking about it for the longest time as we walked through the medinas. In the US, we are used to seeing easily accessible ramps or parking for persons with disabilities and in the almost 2 weeks we have been here it is very difficult to point out readily easy ramps or parking for these people. I found that in Rabat, Abdeljabbar Rachidi, the Secretary of State at the Ministry of Solidarity, announced that the ministry is finalizing a partnership with the National Railway Office (ONCF) to grant people with disabilities a 50% reduction on train fares. While we have not seen these trains, I am sure that in the more central parts of the city, they are indeed more accessible that the medinas are.
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