I led a Listen Include Respect Training in Jordan, with Chaica al Qassimi from the United Arab Emirates. 

It was part of a project run by Humanity & Inclusion. 

They are working to help women with intellectual disabilities to move out of an institution in Jordan, and Inclusion International is giving technical support on inclusion in the community.

This training was for the community organisations that will support the women who move out of the institution. 

We trained them on how they can work in a different way to include people with intellectual disabilities better.

I think the training was important because the organisations that attended were very engaged and eager to learn. They engaged in the lectures and activities that helped them learn about the different types of meetings, good and bad support, how to be an inclusive leader, and employing people with disabilities in their organisations in an inclusive and effective way. This is important because it helps create an inclusive world.

Chaica al Qassimi, Co-Trainer and Self-Advocate Representative to Council for the MENA Region

What did the organisations learn?

The training was about how to use the Listen Include Respect guidelines.

We looked at these topics: 

  • how to run inclusive meetings, face to face or online. 
  • how to have inclusive training and inclusive conferences. 
  • Supporting people make a decision  
  • How self-advocates can be included in decision making in the organisation or service
  • Understanding intellectual disability

This topic was helpful to them, as they work with people with intellectual disability and other disabilities. 

The training will help them to include self-advocate in their work, and help make sure people with intellectual disabilities have control over their own support and services.

It is good for service providers to have this training as it helps them to know what they need to do to support people with intellectual disabilities in an inclusive way.

Listen Include Respect was made by self-advocates. It is important that organisations hear from us about what we need and what we want them to do differently. Teaching them about Listen Include Respect helps them understand how we want them to be inclusive in everything.

Inclusion is not a goal we wait for, it is a responsibility we fight for, every day, from inside our communities.

Organisational leader in Jordan – participant in Listen Include Respect Training

Why is this an important step for helping to close institutions in Jordan?

Supporting people with intellectual disabilities in their communities is an important step towards closing institutions in Jordan. 

Everyone needs to stay in the community like others, and the organisations we trained are supporting people once they leave the institutions. 

Helping organizations to work on supporting people with intellectual disabilities in a more inclusive way is important for making sure people can be included in the community.

People with intellectual disabilities in Jordan want to be included in their communities. 

After living in an institution, the women are getting a chance to make their own decisions, and inclusive community organisations can help make sure this happens.

I have ideas, dreams, and things I want to do. Don’t decide for me, ask me.

Hamzeh Tahboub, Self-Advocate from Jordan

Other ways we support closing institutions in Jordan

Helping community organisations understand how to give inclusive support is just one piece of the puzzle for people moving out of an institution.

Inclusion International is also supporting the work to close the institutions by working with the women with intellectual disabilities in the institution, and supporting their families.

Through this project, self-advocate leaders from the region have trained 74 women with intellectual disabilities living in the institution about self-advocacy and decision making.

After the sessions, 18 of those women expressed their interest in joining the self-advocates group

to speak up about their rights and continue fighting for deinstitutionalisation. 

Inclusion International is also supporting the families of women moving back into the community, connecting families from Jordan to the family movement in the wider Middle East and North Africa region to create a network of understanding and shared experiences.