Employment offers a foundation for people with disabilities

A disabled woman works alongside other employees in an electronics company. — VNA/VNS Photo Danh Lam

HÀ NỘI — Nguyễn Hồng Hà went to a job transaction session which brings disabled workers hope to find a suitable job.

Hà, 20, lives in Bắc Từ Liêm District in Hà Nội.

He graduated from the elementary information technology vocational course at the Hà Nội College of High Technology.

Hà said that he had difficulty travelling, so he asked his father to drive him to the job fair.

He wished to find a job that required little travel, involved computers or photoshop, and expected a monthly salary of VNĐ5-7 million (US$206-288).

“I was introduced to some positions. I will study carefully about their working conditions to suit my health,” said Hà.

Thái Thị Hà, 44, hearing impaired, hopes to find a job with an income of about VNĐ4 million ($164) and near her house.

Earlier, she used to work as a housekeeper and handywoman.

Nguyễn Hoàng Yến, a project officer of the Angles’ Haven – a Korean non-governmental organisation that supports people with disabilities to gain more vocational skills to increase their opportunities to find jobs, said that employment was important for disabled people.

They will have both income and opportunities to advance in life.

Even more important was that this helped them overcome the feeling of inferiority, she said.

Nguyễn Kim Khôi, Director of the Social 3/12 Co Ltd, which participates in the job transaction session, expected to have from five to 10 more workers.

Applicants can have motor disabilities or mild intellectual disabilities.

Khôi’s enterprise is providing sewing training for dozens of disabled workers.

They would also have free food, accommodation and an allowance of VNĐ500,000 ($20) per person per month.

After vocational training, a worker’s income can reach VNĐ5-8 million per month, not including working overtime.

Nguyễn Tây Nam, Deputy Director of the Hà Nội Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, said that the capital city had more than 100,000 people with disabilities, of which over 30,000 are able to work.

Many disabled people are diligent, skilled, have the will to overcome difficulties and desire to work to support themselves.

“They always want to have stable jobs and contribute to society,” said Nam.

Agreeing with Nam’s opinion, Trịnh Xuân Dũng, Deputy Chairman of the Hà Nội Association for People with Disabilities, said, “Having a job, people with disabilities not only can interact with society but also have income and an independent life. Employment for disabled people is a sustainable path to help them truly integrate into the community.”

Suitable environment

Vũ Quang Thành, Deputy Director of the Hà Nội Employment Service Centre, said that consulting and giving employment for people with disabilities was still difficult, because enterprises must have suitable working conditions for them.

On the other hand, Võ Hoàng Yến, Director of the Disability Research and Capacity Development Centre, said that currently many businesses want to accept people with disabilities to work but do not have a companion organisation to develop effective support policies.

Yến believes that to do this, businesses should cooperate with organisations that support people with disabilities, because no one understands disabled people as well as they do.

Tô Đức, Director of the Department of Social Assistance under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA), said in recent years, the Party and the State had always given disabled people attention and care.

The care is expressed in the Constitution, the Laws for People with Disabilities and specialised laws such as the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment, Law on Health Insurance, Law on Education, Law on Vocational Education, Law on Construction and Law on Traffic.

In 2014, Việt Nam ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, and in 2019 ratified the International Labour Organisation’s Convention 159 on vocational rehabilitation and employment for people with disabilities.

The work further affirms Việt Nam’s commitment to ensuring that disabled workers are not discriminated against in terms of employment.

Việt Nam now has over seven million people with disabilities, accounting for more than 7.06 per cent of the population aged two years and older.

Of them, people with severe and especially severe disabilities account for about 28.9 per cent.

About 10 per cent of disabled people are in poor or near poor households.

Việt Nam is one of the countries with a relatively high rate of people with disabilities in the Asia-Pacific region, according to the MoLISA.

Most disabled people live in rural or remote areas, so their life is hard.

Every year, about 19,000 disabled people receive vocational training.

About 20,000 are introduced to jobs with a success rate of over 50 per cent.

About 40,000 receive loans from the national fund with preferential interest rates.

“However, the number is still low, so it requires the cooperation of the community, organisations and businesses,” said Đức. — VNS