In recent years, the Disability Research and Capacity Development Center (DRD) in Ho Chi Minh City has become a support for people with disabilities to be confident and integrate into society.
The figures speak for themselves
In recent years, DRD has become a warm home, a place nurturing the efforts of individuals, the community of people with disabilities, partners, friends and their relatives. DRD has encouraged people with disabilities to study by providing monthly scholarships called “Accompanying for giving and receiving” (500,000 to 1 million VND per place per month) to 345 students until they graduate. In return, the students tutor fellow students with severe disabilities who cannot get to school, at centres, shelters and open houses, or take part in activities supporting people with disabilities. DRD has given 432 wheelchairs, hand-propelled tricycles and crutches and 256 computers to young people with disabilities; it runs a three-wheeled vehicle service to pick up and drop off people with disabilities, and a personal assistance service so that people with mild disabilities can help people with severe disabilities in some study and daily activities. DRD organises careers guidance sessions, job-seeking skills training and job referrals. Thanks to this, nearly 500 people with disabilities have found jobs. More than 200 businesses now regularly recruit people with disabilities through DRD. Acting Director of DRD Luu Thi Anh Loan said: “As people with disabilities ourselves, we understand, empathise, wholeheartedly encourage and equip people with disabilities with skills so they can take charge of their own lives in any environment. Many people have now integrated well, developed and become independent, with stable jobs to support themselves”.
After a traffic accident while she was in grade 11 left her paralysed from the waist down, Duong Dinh Thao Phuong (from An Giang) refused to sit in one place waiting for help from her relatives. Through DRD, Thao Phuong became more confident, learned job-seeking skills, and enthusiastically took part in group activities for people with disabilities. She has now married and has a stable job. Thao Phuong said: “At the time, a friend invited me to a DRD training session on job-seeking skills for people with disabilities, and I thought I would just go and see. I never expected to learn such practical things as how to convince employers and how to integrate into the life around me. I kept taking part, and thanks to that I got a stable job and can support myself”. Ms. Nguyen Dieu Trinh (Phu Nhuan District, Ho Chi Minh City) said she has been paralysed since childhood and always felt inferior. DRD helped her become confident in learning and communicating, take charge of her life and become a useful member of society. Today, Ms. Trinh not only supports herself, but also provides stable work for nearly ten other people through hand embroidery. More than 4,000 people with disabilities regularly take part in DRD activities in Ho Chi Minh City and the provinces of Tay Ninh and Binh Dinh; of these, more than 90% have improved their awareness and confidence, and more than 80% are able to live independently and cope with situations that arise in life.
Meeting a legitimate transport need
One reality is that wheelchair users are people who greatly need to travel by bus, yet find it very hard to get on and off. In response to this need, after surveys and gathering the views of people with disabilities, in early 2017 Ho Chi Minh City invested in a number of low-floor buses fitted with steel ramps; some bus shelters had their pavements adapted with slopes
so that wheelchairs could get on and off easily. Ms. Nguyen Thi Luu (District 3) shared: “I have to use a wheelchair to go to school, so outside school hours I cannot go anywhere. Many times, watching buses pass by, I wished I could get on one to avoid the hardship of pushing my wheelchair, to avoid being late, and to avoid suffering in rain and sun, dust and smoke, and the risk of traffic accidents. Since buses were adapted to serve people with disabilities, I only … in life”. Ha Le An, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Public Passenger Transport Management and Operations Center, said that at present the city has a total of 4,000 bus stops, including 500 shelters. However, only 166 shelters have created access routes for people with disabilities; of these, 67 meet the standards, while the rest need to be fixed. For the remaining 334 shelters, the center is waiting for funding to replace and improve the access routes for people with disabilities. Technically, the center has lowered pavements to create ramps with a gradient of no more than 15 degrees. Recently, at the 23-9 Park bus station, eight ramps for wheelchair users with disabilities were improved in line with the national technical regulations on building construction to ensure access and use by people with disabilities.
Ms. Luu Thi Anh Loan said that DRD has submitted a proposal to the city Department of Transport to consider allocating funds to build wheelchair access ramps for people with disabilities at 416 bus shelters, including building 317 new ones and improving 99, scheduled for completion in 2017, to improve service quality, especially to make buses useful for people with disabilities. The Department of Transport has also issued more than 11,000 free bus cards, replacing other vehicles, such as investing in 300 low-floor buses (in the 2014-2017 period) suitable for people with disabilities.
THANH HAI – http://nhandan.com.vn