(VOVworld) – Vietnam has taken measures to help people with disabilities integrate into the community.

A disabled person is given counseling at her workplace (Photo: VOV)

The Vietnamese State has adopted incentives and encouraged organizations and individuals to provide financial and technical support to the disabled.  People with disabilities are allowed to be enrolled to school at an older age than others, exempt from several subjects and school fees, and provided with scholarships and learning kits. The State ensures that people with disabilities are given free vocational training counseling and freely chose vocational subjects. Vocational education institutions enjoy preferences in accordance with law. Luong Phan Cu, Deputy Chairman of the Association to Support Vietnamese Handicapped and Orphans, said: “We are implementing 6 key programs and other activities to help the disabled enjoy equal opportunities. We have provided them with wheelchairs, built ramps for them, and organized exchanges in the community. We also help people with disabilities improve their livelihoods and earn incomes, so that they feel they are useful to the community.”

Self-employed people with disabilities and households employing people with disabilities are given loans at preferential interest rates, production know-how, technology transfers, and support in selling their products. The State encourages agencies, organizations, and businesses to employ disabled people. Truong Thi Hoa is Director of the Center for Provision of Social Services in Da Nang city: “We have been providing services to the disabled, helping them make use of their own abilities to give them more confidence and help them integrate into the community. Our center also utilizes resources from the city, social organizations, and private individuals to ease the burden of people with disabilities.”

Health care and rehabilitation activities have been organized for the disabled in addition to culture, sports, entertainment, and tourism programs.