Abstract:
Recent statistics stated that there is nearly 6.3 million people with disabilities (PWD) among Vietnam population in which more than 660 thousands children with disabilities (CWD) which counts around 2.4% at that age group (Ministry of Labors-Invalids and Social Affairs 2004; General Statistic Office 2010; Ministry of Education and Training 2010a). On promoting the life of PWD in general and of CWD in particular, Vietnam Government has been issuing a wide range of social policies, legal documents and providing specific services which cover all aspects of PWD daily life. The signing to the United Nations’ Convention on the rights of disabled people in 2006, the promulgation of the first Law on PWD in Vietnam in 2010 and the draft of welfare strategy in 2011 are some of various activities and initiatives delivered by Vietnam Government in this area.
As other developing countries, PWD are facing the various difficulties in their daily life, from negative social attitude to limited opportunities for learning, working and contributing to social development (Japan International Cooperation Agency 2002; Le Bach Duong, Khuat Thu Hong & Nguyen Duc Vinh 2008). It is estimated that only one third of CWD in Vietnam is able to go to school, both. They are partly facing with negative social attitudes from peer friends and lack of learning facilities (Ministry of Education and Training 2010b). In additions, there are also many restrictions and limitations in daily life in both family and community. There are lack of specific support in term of social services and social work from community level.
On looking at the existed situations of PWD, research on disability have almost focused on the inclusive education, rehabilitation and the un-ability aspect of PWD or the assessment of NGOs’ projects relating to the life of PWD in general; there is lack of research initiated from the voice of PWD about their daily life comprehensively as well as from focusing the efficacy of the legal and policy systems as well as social services in area of disability.
By such limitation, research on social inclusion of CWD in Vietnam aims at two layers: social policy and daily experiences of CWD, with details focuses on identifying the social aspects and social relations of CWD in their daily life in all social settings (from their family to the school and community) and analysing social policies and legal documents (laws and sub-law documents) that affect PWD and CWD. This research is driven by research process of Crotty (Crotty 1998) which used social constructionism and symbolic interactionism as the theoretical background, ethnomethodology as the methodology which drive methods for collecting data in terms of observation, survey and personal interview.
The initial findings, from analysing legal documents (from 1986- the milestone of Vietnam Renovation); from survey with 230 responses and 36 interviews, in which informants are CWD, children with non-disabilities, parents of CWD, and teachers in school settings, are stated as: (a) there are a systematic documents on promoting the life of PWD but they are not effective due to the economic conditions and the way to making these policies and understanding the term of disability and the role of CWD in daily life; (b) the most difficulties in which CWD experience at home, at school and in community are those of negative attitudes, learning facilities, the social empathy and barriers from physical environment; (c) the ways in which CWD try to deal with such difficulties are mostly do-by-themselves or try to be adapted rather than asking for supports actively.
By these findings, recommendations are expressed in areas of:
- ideas on changing the social awareness and understanding on disability and CWD as well as having more research on the life of PWD and CWD and how to develop the methodology and research methods with CWD which are suitable to Vietnamese culture and social conditions;
- suggestions on changing the way to making social policies and services for PWD: Which need basing on the voice of PWD, on the welfare and service approaches;
- and recommendations on delivering the support activities basing on social work services and practice from the community level national wide.
Keywords: Children with disabilities, social inclusion, Vietnam, Social Welfare, Social Policy, Social Work Practice
References
Crotty, M 1998, The foundations of social research: Meaning and perspective in the research process, Allen&Uwin, Sydney.
General Statistic Office 2010, The 2009 Vietnam population and housing census: Completed results, Statistical Publishing House, Hanoi.
Japan International Cooperation Agency 2002, Country profile on disability: Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Japan International Cooperation Agency Hanoi.
Le Bach Duong, Khuat Thu Hong & Nguyen Duc Vinh 2008, People with disabilities in Vietnam: Findings from a social survey at Thai Binh, Quang Nam, Da Nang and Dong Nai, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi.
Ministry of Education and Training 2010a, Circular on promulgating the program on training and promoting teaching skills on inclusive education/ Thông tư ban hành chương trình bồi dưỡng nghiệp vụ giáo dục hòa nhập, Hanoi, viewed 12 March 2011, <http://vanban.moet.gov.vn/?page=1.15&script=viewdoc&view=3057&opt=brpage>.
Ministry of Education and Training 2010b, Report on inclusive education by MOET 2010, MOET, Hanoi.
Ministry of Labors-Invalids and Social Affairs 2004, Situational analysis on children with disabilities in Vietnam/Phân tích tình hình trẻ em khuyết tật ở Việt Nam, Labour and Social Publishing House, Hanoi.
Brief biography:
I am Van Kham Tran, graduated from Sociology at BA (2000) and Master (2004). I used to work in Vietnam National University-Hanoi from 2000 to 2007 and started my PhD on Social Work and Social Policy in School of Psychology, Social Work and Social Policy, University of South Australia from 2008. I have experiences and interests in sociology (theory and research methods); social work (social work theory, social work with children, social work in school), social policy, disability study and inclusive society. My research topic to pursuing the PhD is “social inclusion of children with disabilities in Vietnam”.
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