Abdullah Sultan Al Aryani

Paralympic Athlete

General information

• Based in Al Ain, Abdullah is from a military background and coaches various members of the UAE Paralympic shooting team.
• He was a member of the UAE’s able-bodied shooting team in 2000 but was seriously injured in a car crash in 2001, leaving him paralyzed below the waist.
• He returned to competition as a para-athlete at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games.
• At London 2012, he won the UAE’s only gold medal then, and was awarded a National Individual Athlete Award at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Creative Sports Awards in 2013.
• At the Rio 2016 Paralympics, Al Aryani secured three silver medals. Two years later at Cheongju 2018, he had the performance of his career where he won double gold.
• Abdullah broke his personal and global record in R7 50-meter shooting at the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports (IWAS) World Games 2019.

Hamda Al Hosani

Special Olympics World Games athlete
Emirati runner

General Information

• Hamda is 30 years old.
• She is a student at the Zayed Higher Organization where she is being trained to work in a flower shop at Shakhbout Medical City.
• Hamda has epilepsy. She has had mild seizures on the running track but gets back into action as soon as she recovers.
• When she was struggling in grade school with health difficulties, it was her mother who helped her recover and ensured that Hamda pursued her ambitions to become a runner.
• Hamda’s mother encouraged her to sign up for the Special Olympics team, which she did at age 13.
• Hamda won gold in the 200m final at Special Olympics World Games, and silver in the 100m and 4x100m relay.

Abdulla Lutfi

Emirati Artist

General information

• Abdulla is 27 years old.
• He joined Mawaheb, which is an art studio for People of Determination, when he was 18.
• At the Special Olympics World Games Abu Dhabi 2019, he won a bronze medal playing Doubles in Bowling.
• Abdulla’s work mostly comprises of black and white drawings of the UAE’s skylines and landscapes. His art features an exaggerated, humorous view of everyday Emirati life and carries his signature “A.L.”
• Despite his young age, he has had two solo exhibitions.
• As an accomplished artist, Abdulla’s work has been featured by Emirates Airline, Dubai International Airport and various banks and hotels.
• He has a special fascination for Japanese culture, where its influence is evident in his drawings.

Patrick Hall

Employee at Turf Café

General information

• Patrick is a very sociable person who loves drawing cartoons.
• Patrick has autism and has been working at Turf since the beginning of 2020.
• His roles include waiting tables, welcoming guests and preparing water and napkins.

Maitha Mohmmad Almansouri

Director of Communication and Marketing Office, Zayed Higher Organisation

General information

• Maitha is Director of Communication and Marketing at Zayed Higher Organization (ZHO).
• ZHO were keen to work on the Games’ legacy post SOWG, and their global campaign ‘Bee the Change,’ which is part of ZHO's efforts to empower People of Determination, is a social awareness campaign aimed at changing perceptions regarding the abilities of People of Determination, and highlights the important role they play in developing and creating a global movement.
• Another ZHO program is ‘Bee Green,’ which aims to activate the role of People of Determination in preserving the environment.

Rashid Ali Al Nuaimi

Support Technician at Strata, Al Ain

General information

• Rashid, 26, is one of Strata’s newest employees from the Muthabara Program – a partnership between Zayed Higher Organization and Mubadala that aims to empower the development of People of Determination and integrate them into society.
• Rashid has started working at his new position at Strata in March in the Production department.
• Previously, Rashid was trained at both an agricultural center and a call center at Zayed Higher Organisation.
• Al Nuaimi is based in Al Ain and suffers from a Learning Disability.
• He is the eldest of his brothers and likes to spend his spare time at the Camel farm with his cousins.

H.E. Homaid Al Shimmari

Deputy Group CEO and Chief Corporate & Human Capital Officer, Mubadala Investment Company

General information

• Homaid is Deputy Group CEO Chief Corporate & Human Capital Officer with oversight of Mubadala’s Human Capital, Emiratization, Business Services, Enterprise Technology Services, Government Affairs and Construction Management Services.
• He is responsible for employee career growth, talent acquisition, learning and development, performance management, Emiratization and oversees the delivery of a variety of business support services.
• Before joining Mubadala, Homaid was a Lieutenant Colonel in the UAE Armed Forces, with involvement in military aviation, maintenance, procurement and logistics.
• Homaid volunteered at the Special Olympics World Games 2019.

Treva Mahmoud

Turf Café Co-Founder

General information

• Treva and her partner wanted to create a coffee community that is truly inclusive, hence founding Turf Café.
• She works with other volunteer programs to create activities for People of Determination such as SEDRA.

General Information on Turf Café

• Turf is a specialist coffee shop on Mubarak Bin Mohammed Street, Abu Dhabi.
• It opened in September 2019 and supports inclusivity from design, concept, infrastructure and employment.
• Turf hired two People of Determination in front-of-house roles.

H.E Shamma Al Mazrui

Minister of State for Youth Affairs, Vice Chair of the Community and Legacy Committee of the UAE Special Olympics World Games

General information

• H.E. Shamma Al Mazrui is Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Vice Chair of the Community and Legacy Committee of the UAE Special Olympics World Games.
• When H.E. was appointed as Youth Minister for the UAE, she was the youngest ever Cabinet minister in the world at age 22.
• She was born and raised in Abu Dhabi and received her Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the New York University Abu Dhabi.
• She was also the UAE’s first Rhodes Scholar and graduated with a Master of Public Policy from the University of Oxford in 2015.
• In addition to her role as Minister of State for Youth Affairs, she was appointed as Chair of the Special Olympics UAE Board in 2017 and Vice Chair of the Community and Legacy Committee of the UAE Special Olympics World Games in 2019. She is a board member of the Emirates Foundation for Youth Development and a member of the Education and Human Resources Council.
• She announced on February 12, 2020 that there would be a new Special Olympics UAE Games to be held each year. “The recent World Games marked a turning point for people of determination with intellectual disabilities across the UAE. The UAE Games will build on this as an annual milestone. It will also serve as a platform to increase understanding, tolerance and inclusion throughout the UAE. This is not only a legacy of the World Games, continuing the inclusion, but it starts new frontiers in unified games.”

Ali Saif bin Sumaidaa

Special Olympics World Games Athlete Emirati Golfer

General Information

• 15 years old.
• Won a silver medal at the 2019 Special Olympics World Games in Golf.
• Ali is on the Autistic spectrum.
• He was one of the three athletes who gave a speech at the Opening Ceremony of the Special Olympics World Games, alongside HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The clip went viral and following this he was recognised and regularly asked for selfies.
• After competing in the Special Olympics World Games Ali has continued training and eating healthily and has lost over 20kg.
• Also post the Special Olympics World Games Ali is now attending a mainstream school and is doing well in his studies.