Pakistan's disability rights activist visits UAE

Pakistani disability rights activist Tanzila Khan highlighted her happiness at visiting the UAE, especially Dubai, as part of her world tour and her efforts to defy her disability.

She also stressed that her visit to the UAE serves her vision to raise awareness about disability issues, as well as her calls to integrate people with disabilities in all areas of life.

In her interview with the Emirates News Agency (WAM), during her participation in the Skift Global Forum East, Khan said that the world is changing rapidly and, therefore, it is important to keep reminding people that nearly one billion people in the world are suffering from physical disabilities.

She then called on those concerned to provide the necessary services for people with disabilities, noting that she loves travelling to Dubai, Mumbai, Cairo and other cities around the world.

Khan stressed that perseverance is the key to success and urged communities to take action and change stereotypes about people of determination, as well as consider their different aspects and not just their physical disabilities, noting that while they have a wide variety of capacities, they need to be integrated into the community.

She then added that she launched a company known as “I wish,” which specialises in offering training and finding sustainable solutions, as well as created the first podcast series in Pakistan, titled “Brain Masala,” and produced the first comedy short film on disability in her country.

Khan is a writer and motivational speaker and the founder of “Girlythings PK,” which is an app that offers advice to women with disabilities.

Khan is interested in raising awareness about reproductive and educational health and how to access them, especially for people with disabilities.

According to United Nations statistics, 80 per cent of the world’s one billion disabled people live in developing countries, and more than 46 percent of elderly people over 60 are disabled.