Australian Disabled Access Consultants , a national disabled access consultancy business based in Sydney recently extended operations to the United Arab Emirates by opening offices at Dubai and Abu Dhabi in 2007 under the trading name of Emirates Special Needs Consultants to serve the United Arab Emirates, the GULF Region (United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia) and the Middle East. They commenced operations in the United Arab Emirates to protect rights of disabled people and people with special needs within the United Arab Emirates.

Australian Disabled Access Consultants and Emirates Special Needs Consultants business partners met the Director of the Sheikh Khalifa medical city rehabilitation centre and the Nursing Liaison Manager to discuss the redesign of the existing rehabilitation centre, the design of the proposed rehabilitation centre, disabled access and wheelchair access facilities. Australian Disabled Access Consultants and Emirates Special Needs Consultants business partnership provided disabled access and wheelchair access design advice to the Khalifa Medical City Rehabilitation Centre’s designers during the project design stages. Disabled access and wheelchair access building audit inspections are also enabled during the construction and at the completion of building work. Disabled people (including children) and people with special needs have the same rights and privileges afforded to the able-bodied children within the community.


The United Arab Emirates Disability Act (Federal Law No.29/2006) protects the rights of disabled people and people with special needs. To correct this imbalance, they seek disabled access and wheelchair access for disabled people and people with special needs into new buildings, places and facilities.The United Arab Emirates Disability Act (Federal Law No.29/2006) became operational on 21 June 2007 and requires that all Architects, building designers and builders must:

  • Recognise rights of people with disabilities and special needs, and
  • Ensure that disabled people and people with special needs have disabled access and mobility into and within the built environment.