ILO Viet Nam Director's Speech on International Day of Persons with Disabilities

Ladies and gentlemen

It is a great honor for me to be here and to speak at this joyful event celebrating the International Day of Persons with Disability.

I am touched to see all of you in this event, to see a variety of products and services made by people with disabilities. You have shown your ability, capacity and potential to participate actively and to contribute to society.

This fair is a strong evidence to show that people with disabilities are not burden and costs to society, but their inclusion in the labour market could increase Viet Nam’s Gross Domestic Product by 3 per cent. In one of our events a few weeks ago, the ILO invited Ms Vu Thuy Linh, Vice President of the Hanoi Deaf Club as the guest speaker in the panel discussion on the challenges of teaching for children and adolescent with disabilities. There were three languages in that conference—Vietnamese, English and Vietnamese sign language.

It was a great visibility for the audience and me as the facilitator to see and learn about the communication challenges and to understand barriers against many people with disabilities to access education.

After the long and difficult journey to obtain formal degrees such as from Teacher Training Program or Bachelor Degree in Information Technology, many graduates are still facing additional barriers that come from attitude, from the physical environment such as steps in buildings, public transportation, information technology and communication, legislation or policy, or discrimination.

All of these have made it difficult for people with disabilities to find a decent job and enjoy dignity at work. That also means a hard life for them and their family. In Viet Nam, one in every four households with a family member with disability lives below the poverty line.

This year's theme is removing barriers is very important "not only for the benefit of those individuals and their families, but also for their communities and the wider society".

The way forward is to promote rights and opportunities for each person with disability to a fair chance at a decent job suited to their skills, interest and abilities

In 2012-2013, the new ILO/Irish Aid Partnership programme in Viet Nam is supporting disability related work in four areas: Policy development and implementation, Capacity Building for INCLUDE services, Knowledge sharing and partnership with the media, and Disability equality legal training for future lawyers.

Our cooperation with Hanoi Law University includes support to a course on disability law and legislation as part of the University's curriculum.
We also offer some research grants to undergraduate and post-graduate students to undertake disability law-related research projects in early 2013.

So, people with disabilities, Count them in! Because they are part of society. Let all of us together join in breaking down barriers.

Thank you for your attention.