"Don't be ashamed of your disability" - Jordan high schooler creates mosaics, challenges stigma

Record ID: 1560281

  • Title: "Don't be ashamed of your disability" - Jordan high schooler creates mosaics, challenges stigma
  • Date: 1st July 2020
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) RAMA ABU HASHISH'S FATHER, MAHMOUD ABU HASHISH, SAYING: "(We felt) a lot of pain. It is very very difficult for a person to lose part of their body, how will we adapt to this? How can we help her with what she needs? A person's arm is priceless, so we tried to be her second arm. Thank God, but she also decided to be independent, and she proved this by going to the (art) centre, and creating these art pieces for everyone to see. She is not ashamed of her disability, on the contrary, she wants to tell people - come look at me, I am a high school student and still able to work and produce great things." VARIOUS OF ABU HASHISH WORKING ON MOSAIC
  • Embargoed: 15th July 2020 12:16
  • Keywords: Jordan art disability mosaics women
  • Location: MADABA, JORDAN
  • City: MADABA, JORDAN
  • Country: Jordan
  • Topics: Art,Human-Led Feature,Human-Led Stories
  • Reuters ID: LVA003CKZBB6D
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: High school student Rama Abu Hashish uses her right arm to create astonishing mosaic art pieces, often with the help of her prosthetic left arm.
    She was only nine months old when she lost her left arm in a car accident. Shocked and saddened at first, her parents quickly rallied around their daughter to make sure this disability would not hold her back.
    Now turning 17, the Jordanian aspiring artist braces for graduating from high school and already grew a passion for making mosaics.
    She spent long hours practising to use her artificial limb while breaking up small pieces of stone, which she then shapes into large artworks highlighting Jordan's heritage.
    But more importantly, Abu Hashish said she wants her art to send a message to everyone with a disability, showing them there's nothing they can't achieve.
    Abu Hashish's parents said they are proud of their daughter's achievements.
    She said her ultimate goal is to help people like her across the country, and change the stigmas surrounding disability.
    People with disabilities account for around 13 percent of the population in Jordan, according to the Higher Council for People with Disabilities.
    In 2017, Jordan's parliament passed a law that offers comprehensive protections for people with disabilities in different parts of society. But a recent Human Rights Watch report found that the government has not allocated sufficient funding for disability programmes.
    (Production: Jihad Abu Shalbak, Bushra Shakhshir)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2020. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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