Project in Vietnam seeks to minimize discrimination against disabled people there

From VietNamNet Bridge:

Minimising discrimination against physically-challenged people to enable them to fully integrate into society is the purpose of a project to be carried out soon.

The project, jointly developed by the Vietnam Fatherland Front, the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Education and Propaganda and the Research Institute for Social Development Studies, will address the problem for 13 million people with disabilities in Vietnam.

The Research Institute for Social Development Studies reported that discrimination against disabled persons is found in family, community, workplace, education, marriage and child-bearing, citing its survey at Red river delta Thai Binh Province, central Da Nang City, central Quang Nam Province and southern Dong Nai Province.

It also reported that 74 percent of families with disabled members are stricken by hardship. Only 25.45 percent of disabled people aged above 15 are employed, 33.7 percent of disabled people who were formerly employed are out of work, and 40.9 percent of disabled people have never been recruited.

Accordingly, project developers have set to raise awareness of Party, State agencies, local authorities and the community on negative impacts of prejudice and
discrimination on the grounds of disability to assist disadvantaged people to actively get involved in community activities.

They seek to ensure support from Party, State agencies and social organisations to minimise ill treatments toward people with disabilities, providing them with favourable conditions so they can make worthy contributions to their families, the community and at work place as well.

This is an extremely significant effort, Charles Bailey, Director of a special program on dioxin of the Ford Foundation said, mentioning the development of the project.He pointed to the reality that Orange Orange/Dioxin victims and their families have been discriminated more often than victims of other disabilities.