People with disabilities in Vietnam
The following introduction is part of a major report prepared by the Institute for Social Development Studies of Vietnam with the fund from The Ford Foundation.
Background
People with disabilities (PWD) are an important social issue in Vietnam. According to government statistics, as of 2003, there were more than 5 million people with disabilities (PWD) in Vietnam, accounting for 6.3 percent of the total population.
Nearly 8 percent of Vietnamese households had members who were PWD and most of these households were poor. Up to 80 percent of PWD are dependent on support from their family or social assistance provided by the state and/or community.
Government policies, concretized most specifically in the 1998 Ordinance on Disabled Persons, often emphasize the importance of care and support for PWD. Budget shortages and poor management, however, limit both the scope and depth of those supports.
Efforts to mobilize community resources to help PWD also face many difficulties, such as a low degree of awareness regarding the rights and needs of PWD, or the presence of stigma and discrimination towards PWD’s from certain segments of the population.
In 2006, assisted with a grant from the Ford Foundation, the Institute for Social Development Studies carried out a research project that aimed to undertake a comprehensive analysis of the current situation of PWD in a number of high-prevalence provinces in Vietnam. Advocacy for policy enhancement and societal mobilization to support PWD requires a solid evidence base that can be best provided by rigorous social research. At present, however, studies on PWD are relatively few in number and poor in quality. Most are in fact small assessments. In general, these studies focus primarily on environmental/medical/rehabilitation aspects of disability at the expense of a better understanding of its social dimensions, such as the social participation and integration of PWD, gender aspects, or community attitudes, including stigma and discrimination, towards PWD. So far, disability is not yet viewed as a social product, but primarily as the “problems” of a homogenous group of disadvantaged people caused by their ‘disabled’ status.
This research aims to fill such gaps and in doing so, expand our understanding of the multiple vulnerabilities PWD currently face, thus providing a stronger empirical base for policy formulation and the design of effective interventions. In a particular focus of this research, we examine the situation of a sub-group of PWD: those individuals believed to be affected by dioxin from Agent Orange (AO) as used in the Vietnam War. Dioxin-related disability has been of special concern for the government, scientists, the mass media, and many domestic and international organizations. However, compared to other groups of PWD, the situation of dioxin-affected people is least understood, except for a general consensus of agreement on their socioeconomic hardship, in addition to the severity of their poor health status.
The localities selected for the research are Thai Binh, Quang Nam, Da Nang, and Dong Nai. Geographically, these provinces stretch from the North through the Center to the South of Vietnam, providing a countrywide panorama of the issues to be covered. These provinces are also localities reporting a very high prevalence of PWD. In particular, these provinces report high numbers of the population affected by dioxin. These ‘Hotspots’ of dioxin contamination have been found in several localities in Da Nang, Quang Nam, and Dong Nai. The province of Thai Binh in the North is also reported to have large numbers of returning soldiers who were exposed and subsequently affected by dioxin during the war. Decades may have since passed, but the destructive and life-long effects of dioxin remain to blight both the environment and the people who reside there.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART 1. INTRODUCTION
1. BACKGROUND
1.1 Rationale
1.2 International definitions and models of disability
1.3 An overview of the disability situation in Vietnam
1.3.1 Disability definition
1.3.2 Situations of disability
1.3.3 Disadvantages of people with disability
1.3.4 Disability-related stigma and discrimination
1.3.5 Traditional beliefs and cultural values towards PWD
1.3.6 New perspectives on disability
2. RESEARCH OBJECTIVE, APPROACH, AND QUESTIONS
2.1 Research objective
2.2 Research approach
2.3 Research questions
3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND SAMPLE DESIGN
3.1 General concepts
3.2 Household survey
3.2.1 Questionnaires
3.2.2 Sampling design
3.2.3 Fieldwork and Interviewing results
3.2.4 In-depth interviews and focus group discussions
PART 2. RESEARCH FINDINGS
4. PROFILE OF THE STUDIED PROVINCES
4.1 Thai Binh
4.2 Quang Nam – Da Nang
4.3 Dong Nai
5. SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF HOUSEHOLDS HAVING PEOPLE WITH DISABILITY
5.1 Demography of Disadvantage
5.2 Poor Assets
5.3 Poor accessibility
5.4 Low Income and Expenditure
5.5 Disability as Constraints of Livelihood Improvement
6. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITY
6.1 Demographic characteristics
6.1.1 Age
6.1.2 Gender
6.1.3 Marital status
6.2 Educational attainment
6.3 Employment
6.4 Disability situation
7. DIFFICULTIES FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITY
7.1 Difficulties in the performance of daily activities
7.2 Difficulties in education
7.3 Difficulties in accessing healthcare service
7.4 Difficulties in employment
7.5 Difficulties in marriage and having children
7.6 Difficulties in social participation and access to information
7.7 Difficulty in participation in cultural and sporting activities
7.8 Multivariate analysis
8. DISABILITY-RELATED STIGMA AND DISCRIMINATION
8.1 General perceptions, attitudes and practices towards PWD
8.2 Disability and education
8.3 Disability and employment
8.4 Disability and marriage and childbearing
8.5 Disability and social participation
8.6 Perception of the PWD of their rights
8.7 Multivariable analysis
9. SUPPORTS TOWARD PWD
9.1 Legal provisions
9.2 Institutional structure of support
9.3 Policy implementation
9.4 Support for PWD at the surveyed communities
PART 3. CONCLUDING REMARKS AND REFERENCE
