How Helm is opening doors for 14 million Egyptians with disabilities

Photo courtesy of Helm, Egypt

Imagine a world where leaving the house is a choice between life and death.

There are plenty of things we take for granted in our day-to-day lives. Simple actions like crossing the road are something most of us just do without a second thought. Sadly, the same cannot be said for the estimated 14 million people with disabilities in Egypt, a fact that has been highlighted in a new hard-hitting video by the non-profit organisation Helm.

Directed by renowned film director Amr Salama, the short video opens with a man sitting down and stating that, before leaving his house, he has to “think about it a million times.”

It then cuts to a visually impaired woman who says, “Many things that are considered easy and simple by everyone else can be life-threatening for us.” The video then goes back to the man, who adds, “If you were to live our experience, you would understand our suffering.”

The production, which also features actors Menna Shalaby and Ahmed Malek, isn’t just about raising awareness; it’s part of a click-funding campaign where every view, like, share and comment results in a donation to Helm to make the area surrounding Cairo University accessible for individuals with disabilities. At the time of publishing, the video is approaching 6 million views.

NOT-SO-EARLY BEGINNINGS

Considering its achievements, it’s hard to believe that Helm, which means ‘dream’ in Arabic, has only been really operational for three years. The brainchild of co-founders Ramez Maher and Amena El-Saie, both 27, Helm first launched as a graduate club at the American University in Cairo in 2011. It officially launched in 2014 when it was awarded non-profit status.

“We both had experiences relating to disability,” Ramez explained. “Amena was blind for 90 minutes during a semester abroad. [As for me at university], when one of the students played a video presentation, a blind student leaned over and asked me what was happening, and I explained it to him. When I started working on my own presentation for that class, I realised that I could engage my blind colleague by adding one simple element.”

Helm’s mission is simple: to break down social and physical barriers by empowering individuals with disabilities. Although it was initially a club, a series of events encouraged the duo to go full-time with the project.

“Helm has received numerous awards: the Negma Social Entrepreneurship Competition in 2013 and the Rise Egypt Fellowship in 2014,” Ramez said. “But one of the criteria for applying for the Rise Fellowship was that the founders must work full-time in the organisation. That’s when Amena and I decided to quit our jobs, take the risk and focus on growing Helm.”

The awards included accelerator programmes that helped Helm gain technical knowledge from international experts, including Jay Cardinali, Worldwide Accessibility Manager at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts.

“Joining different mentorship programmes has helped the foundation to have a sustainable model and to keep developing its capacity.”

Starting out as a self-funded venture, Helm now operates in Cairo, Hurghada and Luxor, employs 20 staff and works with more than 500 volunteers.

“Helm has become a magnet for innovative, talented young employees and volunteers who believed in Helm and became part of it,” Ramez continued. “[We’re] an inclusive family where half the team are people with disabilities and half are without.”

Support comes in the form of partnerships with organisations such as the Vodafone Egypt Foundation. Together, they launched Entaleq, a website and app that assists users in navigating venues based on accessibility features.

PROGRESS IN EGYPT

The co-founders have also set up the social enterprise Wsul. “Around one in every seven Egyptians has some sort of disability; that is a significant portion of the consumer market,” said Ramez. “Helm and Wsul promote that businesses accommodate the spectrum of people with disabilities by making their environment more customer-friendly to avoid losing potential revenue. We try to show how such a big market segment cannot just be neglected but rather be used as a great added value for the economy.”

Since its launch, Helm has received numerous accolades, but for Ramez, there’s a particular one that stands out: “All moments made us feel proud, but I would say the proudest moment was being selected as one of the best innovative practices in the world by the Zero Project at the United Nations.” The Zero Project is an initiative with a network of over 3,000 disability experts in over 150 countries that seeks to improve the lives of people with disabilities.

Looking ahead, Helm’s five-year vision is to expand and develop accessibility solutions to influence policy makers. “During the past two years, Helm has managed to reach more than 6 million members of society and has trained more than 5,000 corporate employees on how to accommodate and deal with people with disabilities,” Ramez said.

Helm is planning on creating more models in different sectors that can be replicated. Piloting this year are models of an accessible metro station and an accessible bus stop. And over the next year, Ramez wants to take it to a whole city: “Helm aims to make Luxor an accessible city and a destination for tourists with disabilities by assessing the accessibility level and implementing changes in key strategic areas in the city.”

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