Hanoi helps disabled children integrate into community

Under a project to support disabled children from now to 2010 by the municipal Committee for Population, Family and Children, all the city’s disabled children will receive support, especially mobility-impaired children, who will have better conditions to attend school. Disabled children from lower income families will be eligible for free plastic surgery and rehabilitation. Others are able to join vocational training and obtain partial financing for surgery and rehabilitation.

"We have worked closely with the Fund for Vietnamese Child Protection, the Central Hospital for Orthopaedy and the Vietnam–Cuba Hospital in Hanoi to return smiles to hare-lipped children," said Ms Thanh. "We have also joined hands with the Relief Aid Association for Children with disabilities, and the Hanoi Traditional Medicine Hospital to help those with mobility impairment. We are calling o­n businesses and kindhearted people to finance heart operations for poor children. We have also held fund raising activities so that children with less severe disabilities can integrate into society, especially in terms of education and occupation."

Tu Liem district o­n the outskirts of Hanoi is o­ne example of successful implementation of supportive programs for disabled children. Nguyen Thi Binh is in charge of population, family and children at Thuy Phuong commune.

"When we have specific research information o­n children with disabilities, we turn it over to volunteers," said Ms Binh. "Each volunteer visits four or five children, talks with their families about their health and listens to the families’ expectations. When they go to school, we ask teachers to design typical teaching curriculum for each child. We are planning to set up a club for the parents of disabled children."

To care for and educate children with disabilities requires the attention of families, schools and the community. Nguyen The Hop, a researcher o­n disabled children at the Specialised Education Centre under the National Strategy Institute for Education Strategy and Curriculum said "Our objectives are to help disabled children’s parents be better aware of the children’s rights to be looked after. Their parents come to realise the importance of connections between families, schools and the community to develop the children’s skills."

With increased communications programs to improve community awareness, more than 600 children with disabilities in Tu Liem district go to school just like any other child. Parents of disabled children have been taught to better look after them at home.

"My son has Japanese encephalitis and so his body is very small, his memory is very weak and he can hardly speak," said Dinh Thi Lua from Cau Dien in Tu Liem district. "His future is unclear. With this training, I have learned how to teach him better. I would like to sincerely thank the ministries and agencies which care for the future of my child and other children with disabilities."

Integrating disabled children into the community cannot be done overnight. Ms Thanh said that Hanoi children with disabilities each year obtain assistance and opportunities to integrate into the community. She added that for families with higher incomes, the local fund for Protection of Children provides information, while for those with lower-incomes, the fund can provide both information and financial assistance according to the motto "All Hanoi disabled Children receive support and care".