MUSCAT – Bank Muscat, the leading financial services provider in the Sultanate of Oman, has announced its participation in the Forum for Persons with Disabilities, to be held at the Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre from May 1-3, 2023.
The forum, which is being held under the auspices of the Ministry of Social Development, will see the strong participation of several leading government and private sector organisations. Also present will be a number of local and regional organisations working for the welfare of persons with different types of disabilities, technical institutions and manufacturers of various assistive devices. During the forum, Bank Muscat will highlight its pioneering role in empowering persons with disabilities through various services and initiatives for this important segment of society.
The event aims to enhance the status and role of persons with disabilities by providing them with opportunities to showcase their abilities and talents. In particular, the forum will highlight the importance of modern technologies, which can assist persons with disabilities to lead as normal a life as possible. It will also bring to the fore the role of the family in supporting persons with disabilities through early intervention and the need for promoting accessibility by a society that cares and empowers the disabled socially and economically. A number of presentations and works by persons with disabilities will also be displayed at the forum for the benefit of the large numbers of visitors.
Visitors to the exhibition will have an opportunity to learn more about the different facilities provided by Bank Muscat to persons with disabilities through its dedicated stall. In particular, visitors can learn about the job opportunities available to persons with disabilities as well as specially designed inclusive features and services. It may be noted that Bank Muscat has a number of achievements to its credit in this regard including the launching of the first ATM in Oman for persons with visual disabilities at the premises of the Al Noor Association for the Blind. The bank’s participation at the forum comes as part of its keenness to enhance financial inclusion as part of its overall strategy to support Oman’s renaissance.
Bank Muscat has also been taking great effort to ensure that staff trained in sign language are available at different branches to provide banking services to serve customers with hearing and speech impairments. The bank also continues to partner with the Omani Association for the Hearing Impaired by providing assistive devices to those in needs.
The bank has also previously provided wheelchairs and electrically operated beds to the disabled and Braille Sense devices and special laptops to students with visual disabilities at Sohar University. It has also supported the Al Aman Rehabilitation Centre and the Al Wafa Centre for the Rehabilitation of Children with Disabilities. These efforts are a part of the bank’s initiatives in the field of social responsibility projected to improve the facilities provided to the persons with disabilities and help them to integrate into society and contribute to the development of the country.
The bank is comprehensively upgrading 11 conventional banking branches and 9 Meethaq Islamic branches across the Sultanate of Oman so as to provide enhanced banking services to persons with disabilities. Also, the m-Banking app has been updated to allow screen reading in Android and iOS to assist persons with visual disabilities. Bank Muscat is also implementing best practices on social media, promotional campaigns and emailers including describing images and videos with alternative text. Hence people with disabilities can easily identify the published multimedia. This reflects the bank’s keen efforts to create a convenient and accessible environment for the disabled.
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