Mr. Hassan Ali Bin Ali has worked closely with
Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Bin Abdullah Al-Missned
in building the Shafallah Center for
Children with Special Needs.
Shafallah Genetics Medical Center is
one of the worldâs leading research centers
for conditions such as autism.
He is also actively involved in disabled sports,
leading the way in developing purpose-built facilities
for athletes with disabilities.
The Convention for the Rights of People with Disabilities
Is a convention that describes many facets of what needs to be done...
...by states parties to support those with disabilities.
I'm Hassan Ali Bin Ali. I'm the Chairman of the Shafallah Center for Children With Special Needs.
As you know, I'm a businessman. I'm a volunteer for the job.
Her highness has got me involved in that she asked me to become Chairman of the Shafallah Center.
I accepted and here I am after 12 years.
One Billion Strong is one of the visions of her highness...
It came out not from this forum but the last forum we had.
Her highness was asking the question
...what can we do more for children with disabilities all over the world?
I thought that I had to say something.
I did say: the First Ladies can play a more important role.
Because you are nearer to the decision-makers
and maybe you can give the message better then we can.
Because when we ask for a meeting it will take a week, maybe two weeks maybe more than that.
We thought we work also with Ron McClellan
to see that the convention is being implemented in the right way and in the right manner
And that's why we had this event.
Someone saw the World Report, the W-H-O Report
that said there are more
than one billion disabled all over the world
That includes people in wheelchairs
and people with all sorts of disabilities.
So we said, "well, why don't we call it One Billion Strong."
We are doing so many programs.
We are doing programs for Uganda. We're are talking with Kenyans to make programs
I think they are submitting 2 or 3 proposals
which we are going to look at.
We are covering refugee camps in Philistine and Jordan.
You have all these laws and conventions
and you give it to someone who doesn't have anything
And then you say to him, "this is a law."
They say, "fine, this is a law,
but I don't have anything here.
I don't have the right education.
I don't have the right rehab.
I don't have the right, you know... um.
So, what are you going to do for me?
We have to do something on the ground
to see that those people who don't have
facilities get the facilities
and those who don't have the training
get the training.
That's what we have to do.
We are all part of a team.
So we should be sharing with you.
And we consider you part of our team.
We should be cooperating with you.
And telling you what we are doing
because you have an input as much as we have an input.
So definitely, we'll be cooperating together.