Sabika Shaban with Ambassador of Pakistan to Qatar H E Syed Ahsan Raza Shah after being honoured by Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs for its Honours List 2021.
Doha: Sabika Shaban, founder of the Qatar Disability Resource (QADR), has been honored by Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs for its Honours List 2021, which recognises overseas Pakistanis under the age of 40 for their leadership in multiple categories. Shaban, who was nominated for ‘Community Service’, is one of the 25 recipients and the only one from Qatar to receive this distinction out of nearly 150 nominees from around the world.
In a private virtual ceremony, select recipients including Shaban had the opportunity to be formally recognised as well as interact with the Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi regarding their work and the impact they have created in their respective countries. Shaban, who is a Pakistani-Canadian and calls Qatar her home for the last 10 years, is a disability advocate and founded QADR in an attempt to “leave no person with a disability or a stakeholder of the community in Qatar lost for options.” She said, “The basic premise of the platform is that ‘Information is Empowerment.’ If you do not know, you cannot do. If you cannot do, you cannot begin to realise potential. And the people of this community have incredible untapped potential.”
“QADR started with just a handful of people during the Autism Awareness Month in April 2018. Through sheer word of mouth, it continues to grow rapidly into a rich community of people with disabilities, families, educators, health professionals, service and equipment providers, and researchers—hundreds of people who are seeking for information as well as those who can provide the answers. We have come together as a community and we can continue to go much further together.” When asked what this distinction means to her, she said, “I am deeply humbled and honored for the trust and the recognition of this work, and my deepest gratitude to Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Syed Ahsan Raza Shah and his team at the Embassy here, and every single person in the QADR community. This recognition only strengthens the resolve to continue to realise all the forward pathways that root from QADR.
“For instance, we are currently embarking on a new project phase to ensure that all the enlightening information generated in the QADR community can be made accessible to anyone in Qatar. In parallel, through my research conducted within and outside the Master’s program in Islam and Global Affairs at the College of Islamic Studies, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, I am delving into the socioeconomic dimension of the disability community in Qatar and the availability of inclusive education—and their implications on local policy development.”
Shaban is also a recipient of the Student Life Award in Community Service in 2021 at HBKU, where she works as an Academic Journals and Publications Specialist.
She has published a number of op-eds and creative pieces in the areas of education, environmentalism, faith, and the human experience.
