Saudis with disabilities face special problems in Saudi Arabia, Arab News reports. Not only must they go up against social attitudes that see them as incapable of performing meaningful work, but some employers also game the system to claim extra credits in their ‘Saudization’ efforts—hiring a disabled Saudi counts as hiring four able-bodied Saudis.

The solution proposed—new and enforced laws protecting the disabled—is certainly part of the problem, but the writer over-simplifies what other country’s laws provide. She notes that, for instance, some older buildings (generally those of some historic interest) are exempt from requirements to install access ramps, for example. But accommodation is normally read to mean ‘reasonable accommodation’. An employer is not required to spend millions of dollars to change the workspace to meet the special needs of any employee; an employer is not required to design new factory equipment that is accessible to someone in a wheelchair. This system, too, is open to gaming, just a different kind, operated through the vehicle of questionable law suits.

Physically-challenged Saudis hobbled by employers
Nuha Adlan | Arab News

RIYADH: Qasim Al-Enizy is a devoted administrative assistant at King Fahd Medical City, but what he really wants is a job that matches his education: The job of an accountant. The problem is Al-Enizy is bound to his wheelchair.

“I am an accountancy graduate, but I was told that working as an accountant needs mobility,” he said. “I tried looking for jobs in other places. I pass all qualification tests, but when it comes to recruiting they raise the issue of their inability to make their workplace accessible to the disabled.”

He said he wanted to go to university to gain a more advanced degree, but he can’t afford to hire somebody to help him navigate the streets of Riyadh, which is not the easiest place to get around if you use wheelchairs as a substitute for walking shoes.

There are in fact laws in Saudi Arabia to accommodate people with disabilities, but society is still free to tell job applicants with handicaps that they cannot hire them specifically because of their condition. Physically-challenged people may face discrimination worldwide. But according to the head of the Disabled Services Committee at the Ministry of Social Affairs, Dr. Talaat Al-Waznah, in Saudi Arabia there is a prevailing view that disabled people are charity cases that simply need a roof over their heads.