Bui Cong Thach is presenting gifts to support persons with disabilities affected by floods in Quang Tri as part of a USAID program. (Photo credit: Bui Cong Thach)
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After staying at home and doing nothing for two years, Bui Cong Thach began to learn about Vietnam's Law on People with Disabilities, the International Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, and the International Organization of People with Disabilities.
He realized that people with disabilities are only truly disabled if they don’t have an opportunity to tap their potential, find a stable job, and live a life like any other person in society.
Thach decided he wouldn’t allow himself to be disabled and depend on family members or social benefits while he was still able to do something to benefit society.
He began to interact with the local association of people with disabilities and look for opportunities on the Internet.
Thach now works for a Vietnamese NGO called the Action to the Community Development Center (ACDC). ACDC was established in 2011 for persons with disabilities to support others with disabilities.
Thach shared his feeling, “It took me two years after my accident to ‘stand up’. It was only when I participated in activities organized by ACDC that I began to think more positively, became more confident, and seized more opportunities.”
Nguyen Van Tay (first from left) and his friends at a ceremony in Hanoi to honor 64 prominent young people with disabilities, December 28, 2020. (Photo credit: Nguyen Van Tay)
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On the advice of a cousin, Nguyen Van Tay has turned his leisure time habit of making pencil drawings into a way to make ends meet.
He puts his heart and soul into his drawing to produce portraits that are lifelike and soulful.
Word of Tay’s talent has spread and a growing number of customers are asking him to draw their portraits.
It usually takes him 6 or 7 days to complete a portrait, which his mother helps him mail to the customer. Life is getting better for Tay.
Tay is also now participating in social activities. He joined the Club of People with Disabilities in Ninh Son ward, Tay Ninh city, and is now secretary in charge of activities to increase social inclusion for disabled people to affirm their value to the community.
Tay says he is mobilizing disabled people who are interested in opening a gallery.
 Nguyen Thi Ngoc Tam (third from right) and her students. (Photo: tuoitrethudo.com.vn) |
Crystal-bone girl Nguyen Thi Ngoc Tam believes that how long a person lives is less important than how meaningfully and joyfully they live.
“Each day I live, I want to live a joyful life and make every day meaningful so everyone sees that my 24 hours were not wasted. I can make full use of them and that’s why I’ve held a charity class for 17 years,” Tam said.
 Pham Anh Tuan, the boy in colorful coat, at a Sunday class (Photo: Lan Phuong/VOV5) |
“I’ve followed Tam’s class for a year. I find Tam’s teaching very easy to understand. After taking her class, I often get 9 or 10 points in math, Vietnamese, and English at school. During English lessons, Tam let us role play—as an old person, for example-so we can learn English while having fun. If I don’t understand something, or have any difficult with a math lesson at school, I can ask Ms. Tam for help.”
That was 5th-grader Pham Anh Tuan, one of Ngoc Tam’s students, talking about his beloved teacher.
Tam now uses computers and smart devices proficiently to access public services, communicate with others, and support others in the same situation.
In 2017, Tam established a study promotion fund named “Crystal-bone girl Ngoc Tam” which has presented hundreds of gifts to poor students with a fondness for learning.
In 2018, a program called "Crystal-bone girl Ngoc Tam, an Inspirational Journey" organized by the Microfinance and Community Development Institute in Hoa Binh province delivered positive life energy to schoolchildren and people with disabilities with the message "Anyone, whether healthy or disabled, can make their live more meaningful if they have enough faith."
 Ngoc Tam at the 2020 National Volunteer Awards ceremony (Photo: Duong Trieu) |
Tam’s contributions to society got her named one of the top 10 individuals of the 2020 National Volunteer Awards, which honors outstanding contributions to the community, and one of 64 prominent young people with disabilities by a program honoring the fortitude of disabled people.
All of her achievements, she says, are due to her ‘stubbornness’ to learn and the huge support of her family. Tam recalled,
“I was luckier than many other disabled people. I was encouraged to attend school by my maternal grandfather who took me to school and back home again. At first he wasn’t sure I could do it, but he told me all I needed was to read newspapers and write to have more fun in my life. To date, all my activities, even the smallest things, still need support from my parents because I can't move. Talking about my mother, it’s hard to find the words to describe her, because she’s such a great mother. She has sacrificed her life for me. I wrote a poem called ‘My mother’, part of which goes like this: ‘My life’s itinerary is imprinted in your quiet steps, mom. You give me my life’. The poem was set to a song by musician Tran Cong Thuy.”
Mrs. Nguyen Thanh Su, Tam’s mother, now 60 years old, is present for everything Tam does, whether it’s at home or whenever and wherever she participates in any social program, and has forced her to accept reality with a sense of fatalism.
Ms. Su was moved to tell her situation and daughter, “I’ve learned to live with frequent floods. But Tam’s positive thinking has inspired me and the rest of the family to do everything we can to help her participate in social activities and competitions.”
USAID staffers provide rehabilitation services for persons with disabilities. (Photo credit: USAID)
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A crucial issue of disability is accessibility. And access doesn’t just mean wheelchair ramps and handicap-friendly lifts. What Vietnamese people with disabilities want is a society without barriers for them.
Ann Marie Yastishock, Mission Director of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) in Vietnam, said the ultimate goal is to remove all social, physical, and economic barriers that prevent the integration of persons with disabilities into society.
The future is looking brighter for Vietnam’s disabled, thanks to several recent government initiatives.
In 8 years, the National Action Plan to Support People with Disabilities for 2012-2020, working with USAID and the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) has helped millions of people with disabilities by mobilizing 21 million USD in addition to 14 million USD in Vietnamese Government funds, and 5 million USD from international donors.
Last November, USAID, the National Council for Disabilities (NCD), and MOLISA launched a 10-year Disability Action Plan until 2030, which has been reinforced by a new resolution on disability support that will provide disability funding through other national target programs.
Pham Dai Dong, an official of the Department for Social Protection under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, said, “State agencies including the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs will increase direction to and coordination among localities to properly realize the promulgated supportive policies in access to transport services, public works, and cultural and sport activities for disabled people.”
Societal attitudes will be a major factor in determining how well they can integrate into the rest of the population.
Foreign and domestic social organizations are a huge help, but it will ultimately come down to the attitude of the average person on the street.
As Ann Marie Yastishock puts it, “Individuals and their families must have the support of the community, and not feel stigmatized or embarrassed. USAID’s ‘Independent Living’ model reduces self-stigmatization and calls for changing attitudes in society toward persons with disabilities and accepting them as contributing members of society.”