New Orleans nonprofit making sure students with disabilities have a successful school year

By Anum Siddiqui

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    JEFFERSON PARISH, Louisiana (WDSU) — Volunteers with the nonprofit, AMAANA, are spending the next few days packing school bags full of supplies for their students.

AMAANA stands for American Muslims for Accessibility Advocacy and Nurturing Acceptance. The organization launched less than a year ago and now has 100 students enrolled. Organizers say the resource center is a safe place for Muslims with disabilities that lack resources in their community.

The nonprofit is seeking monetary donations for the upcoming school year. This is more traditional supplies like notebooks and crayons. Organizers say students with disabilities require school supplies that are sensory friendly, items fine motor skills and supplies to help students focus.

“We’re community based, so we rely on the community a lot. Especially because this is for the community and it’s about the forgotten community members, members that not a lot of people really think of,” said Rawida Abukhalill, co-founder of Amaana.

Amaana offers the following:

Weekday and weekend programs School system advocacy Community events Parental training Sponsorships Accessible Eid prayer Support groups Volunteering

“We’re trying with this campaign to try to say, ‘Okay, why don’t you experiment with these and see if that gets you a better outcome for your kids?’ If it does, make sure your child’s school has an IEP for 504 for it. If you cannot afford it or you need advocacy, we are here to help you get it by donations from our community and different organizations that we work with,” said Rana Ottallah, co-founder of Amaana.

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