The city has 49,700 people with disabilities; 43,500 people are social welfare beneficiaries while nearly 4,000 homeless and alone elderly people are taken care of in 11 public social houses and 523 other are residing in private houses.
Since the beginning of the year, 400 disabled people have received vocational training while nearly 1,700 others are employed. Moreover, they get free buses and visits to museums , libraries…
The Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs in coordination with the Department of Health to propose HCMC authorities to add massage into the vocational training for people with visual impairment.
Happy with the news, Ms. Dao Thi Le Xuan in Binh Thanh District said that massage job is suitable for blindness people and most of blind people earn living with the job. Nevertheless, the city authorities are restricted in issuing permit of opening massage parlor though applicants are disabled people.
Ms. Xuan said where disabled people work if the government is restricted in the matter while Nguyen Van Thanh, another disabled people, said the government should be “ open” to massage parlor owned by visual impaired people to assist them.
In other side, for years, HCMC has implemented special policies for disable people by providing them free buses. The Department of Transport has organized training courses to employees’ behaviors to disabled people as well as repair buses to facilitate special customers. However, there is discrimination against people with disabilities.
Worse, banks refused to provide ATM account to disabled people. Ms. Dao Thi Le Xuan said that when the bank discovered she is a disabled person, it deleted her name out of the list of people to receive ATM card. Two other banks required her to have supervisors to be eligible for having ATM card.
Deputy Chief of Social Sponsor Division of the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs Vo Minh Hoang said that he will liaise with banks upon ATM issuance for disabled people.. moreover, in next time , the Department will organize employment fair for disable people as well as provide life skills to people with disabilities and rehabilitation training to disable people’s relatives.
Furthermore, the Department will propose the People’s Committee to implement policies of housing for these special people.
