Discussion on International Day of Persons with Disabilities (December 3)

(Baonghean) -This morning, December 3, the Association for the Support of People with Disabilities and Orphans of Nghe An province held a seminar to celebrate the International Day of Persons with Disabilities (December 3). Attending the event were comrade Nguyen Xuan Duong - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, representatives of departments, agencies, units and sponsors.

With the theme: “Together building a better world for all: integrating people with disabilities in common development”, delegates attending the seminar heard about the formation and birth of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities; legal documents stipulated in the Law on Persons with Disabilities of Vietnam which took effect from January 1, 2011.

Nghe An currently has over 200,000 people with disabilities, accounting for nearly 7% of the population, most of whom are poor households with difficulties in daily life. In recent years, implementing social protection policies, the province has created conditions to issue free health insurance cards to 100% of people with disabilities; nearly 29,000 people with disabilities receive monthly social benefits. Nearly 1,000 people are cared for and nurtured at the province's social protection centers and thousands of people are nurtured and given jobs by production, business establishments, and vocational training centers. As a bridge between agencies, units, and kind-hearted people with orphans and disabled people in the province, in recent years, the Provincial Association for the Protection of Disabled People and Orphans has carried out many practical activities, working with the community to support many disabled people and orphans. In 2011, the Association for the Support of Disabled People raised over 1 billion VND to provide money, rice, clothes, bicycles, and wheelchairs to over 1,000 disabled people; and implemented the project to Support Livelihoods for Disabled People in Nam Anh Commune (Nam Dan District).

At the seminar, delegates all agreed on the following points of view: It is necessary to focus on propaganda to raise awareness in the community about the Law on Persons with Disabilities; raise awareness and responsibility of organizations and individuals towards PWDs; help PWDs better understand their rights and obligations to confidently integrate into the community.

Thanh Phuc