The President of the General Union for Disabled Persons, Nizar Basalat, expressed  his discontentment with the inhumane situation that the disabled have reached in the Palestinian society.

This came during a workshop organized by the Department of Psychology at BZU under the title "Who is responsible?" on 28 April 2011, in which the Chairperson of the Media Department ,Dr.. Waleed Al Shurafa, Chairperson of the Law Department, Dr. Yousef Shandi, Ms. Amal Salameh, Head of Save the Children in Bethlehem, and Mr. Nizar Basalat, President of the General Union for Disabled Persons have participated.

The workshop was opened by screening a documentary film that describes the status of the disabled persons in the Palestinian society, focusing on the inhuman practices towards those with disabilities.

Shandi pointed out that physical disability does not prevent the person from performing his duties normally, but requires some assistance to integrate the disabled into the society. But the mental disability  is the most dangerous, as it requires special care. He defined disability from the  legal aspect, being  the first step to improve the role of the disabled in the society.

Ms. Salameh asserted that the initial responsibility lies on social institutions, whether the family or community, pointing to the need to knock on every door, and resort to all available means, and not to think of isolating the disabled from the community, while the role of law is limited to penalizing those who deprive them of their freedom.

Dr. Shurafa stressed that the crisis lies in the Palestinian infrastructure as a whole, which is part of the Arab structure, pointing out that the media imbues this crisis in an intelligent and loyal manner, noting that the humanitarian culture in the Arab world is deteriorating..

At the conclusion of the workshop, the participants answered questions, which were many and reflected a level of awareness.

Finally, this workshop is part of a series of workshops conducted  by the Psychology Department at BZU.