Vietnam Through A Disability Lens: Finding A Prescription for
Greater Clarity and Action
Yen Thi Hoang Vo, M.A., and Glen W. White, Ph.D.
Department on Human Development and
the Research and Training Center on Full Participation in Independent Living
at the University of Kansas
Major Legislation Including Persons with Disabilities
1992 Constitution of Viet Nam Rights and Duties of Citizens:
No fees for primary school1994 Labor Code, No. 35-L-CTN:
Covers wage laws, vocational training, occupational safety and hazards, and production establishments for persons with disabilities
1998 Ordinance on Disabled Persons (No. 06/1998/PL-UBTVQH-10):
Covers all aspects of legislation pertaining to persons with disabilities
April 18 was chosen as the National Day of Protection and Care for People with Disabilities
We also have:
Society of Support FOR Vietnamese Handicapped Orphans and Children
Vietnam Society FOR Protection and Support of the Disabled
The National Coordinating Council on Disability (NCCD), 02/2001
However,
Gaps between the aim of legislation and the actual programs implemented are significant
Few specific instructions have been disseminated on the implementation of the Ordinance on Disabled Persons
No consensus among different governmental organizations regarding the implementation of laws and regulations Lack of coordination among these governmental organizations People with disabilities have not been a target group or a concern, even just appearing, in the project documents
TOLERANCE and CHARITY towards people with disabilities is easily found
However: Lack of understanding and awareness of
disability legislation still persists Negative attitudes towards persons with
disabilities still exists
In Vietnamese Society
For the first time in Ho Chi Minh City, a group of 13 persons with disabilities organized an photo exhibition “Focusing on Equal Opportunities” that featured:
People with disabilities in their every day life
Their ability to develop and live to their full potential
This photo exhibition “Focusing on Equal Opportunities” stressed the full participation of people with disabilities in Vietnam society:In education
In employment
In contribution to society
In building their own “nest”
Educational Rate
Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs, 1998
Some basic secondary education
26%
Primary education 31%
Illiterate43%
Illiterate
Primary education
Some basic secondary education
Professional Levels of Persons with Disabilities in Vietnam 1994-1995
Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs’ survey 1994-1995
No vocational skills97%
College and university degree
1%
Some vocational skills2%
No vocational skills
Some vocational skills
College and university degree
How can I improve life for my fellow Vietnamese with Disabilities?
Independent Living Conference in Hawaii in December, 2000
Learned about the concept of Independent Living
Received a Ford Foundation International Fellowship in June, 2001
In the Fall of 2001 I came to University of Kansas to study with Dr. Glen White and learn about research on rehabilitation and independent living.
Study Goals
Learn more about:Disability movement
Disability laws and their implementation
Independent Living
And bring the new knowledge home to:Enable people with disabilities to better influence the course of their lives and the decisions which affect them
Do research to obtain data on disability issues
Use data to change disability policy and practice
Self-Advocacy Training for Postsecondary Students with
Disabilities:Requesting Accommodations to Increase Full Participation in
Higher Education
Self-Advocacy means:
Knowing your rights and responsibilities
Speaking up for yourself
Negotiating for yourself
Making your own decisions
Asking for what you need
Using the resources that are available to you
(State of Vermont Developmental and Mental Health Services)
Students lack knowledge about
Their legal rights
Effective personal accommodations
Self-advocacy skills
Students with disabilities need to advocate for themselves and solicit their own supports rather than rely on others providing advocacy and advice to succeed:
in higher educational settings
in their working environments later
Research Question
What are the effects of a self-advocacy training package in improving students with disabilities’ accommodation-requesting skills?
Measurement Techniques
A behavioral scoring form to score participants’ skills
A social validation form for external experts to rate participants’ skills
Data Analysis
A visual presentation will be made of these data using a multiple baseline analysis to compare participants’ skills before and after training
Participatory Action Research (PAR):
Collective, self-reflective enquiry undertaken by participants in social situations in order improve the rationality and justice of their own social practices (Kemmis and McTaggart 1988: 5)
A process through which stakeholders influence and share control over development initiatives and the decisions and resources which affect them (World Bank Participation Sourcebook)
PAR used in this study
Met with two groups of students with disabilities from 2 other universities to discuss challenges that they have been facing in their educational settings
Collaborate with the Services for Students with Disabilities Office (SSD) at the University of Kansas to identify and recruit potential study participants
Involve students with disabilities in refining the definitions of behaviors to be addressed
Involve students with disabilities in getting reliability data
Collaborate with people whose work is related to disability issues (SSD, local Independent Living Center, Social Work department, etc.) to obtain social evaluation for the outcomes
Have participants evaluate the training
PAR process continued
Self-advocacy is a critical skill required of students with disabilities to succeed in postsecondary school environments
Participants' knowledge of :
Rights to academic accommodations became more evident to them
Who is responsible for providing academic accommodations increased significantly after the training
Knowledge Assessment
0
10
20
30
40
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80
90
100
Baseline Follow-up 1 Follow-up 2
perc
en
t o
f th
e c
orr
ect
an
sw
ers
ClayRick
Zane
Data from independent observers, reading the vignette transcripts, show a consistent
positive correlation between
Systematic training, and
The acquisition of self-advocacy skills by students with disabilities
Baseline Post Post Post Follow-up Follow-up train 1 train 2 train 3 1 2
0
10
20
30
40
50
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80
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100
1 3 5 8 10 11 13 16 18 19 21 23 26 28
Oppening the meeting
Making the request
Closing the meeting
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
1 3 5 8 10 11 13 16 18 19 21 23 26 28
Asking for suggestions
Asking for referral
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
1 3 5 8 10 11 13 16 18 19 21 23 26 28
Planning actions
Summarizing
//
//
//
Clay
Scenarios
Per
cen
t of
Ap
pli
cab
le B
ehav
iors
Ob
serv
ed
Booster
Baseline Post Post Post Follow-up Follow-up train 1 train 2 train 3 1 2
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
1 3 5 8 10 11 13 16 18 19 21 24 26 28 29 31
Oppening the meeting
Making the request
Closing the meeting
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
1 3 5 8 10 11 13 16 18 19 21 24 26 28 29 31
Asking for suggestions
Asking for referral
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
1 3 5 8 10 11 13 16 18 19 21 24 26 28 29 31
Planning actions
Summarizing
Per
cen
t of
Ap
pli
cab
le B
ehav
iors
Ob
serv
ed
Scenarios
//
//
//
Rick
Baseline Post Post Post Follow-up Follow-up train 1 train 2 train 3 1 2
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
1 3 5 8 10 11 13 16 18 19 21 24 26 27 29 31 34 36
Oppening the meeting
Making the request
Closing the meeting
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
1 3 5 8 10 11 13 16 18 19 21 24 26 27 29 31 34 36
Asking for suggestions
Asking for referral
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
1 3 5 8 10 11 13 16 18 19 21 24 26 27 29 31 34 36
Planning actions
Summarizing
Per
cen
t of
Ap
pli
cab
le B
ehav
iors
Ob
serv
ed
Scenarios
Zane
//
//
//
No occasion to occur: 0 Generalization probes before training: Generalization probes after training:0%-50% : Participant 1: scenario 5, 6 Participant 1: scenario 23, 2451%-89% : Participant 2: scenario 5, 6 Participant 2: scenario 27, 28 90%-100% : Participant 3: scenario 5, 6 Participant 3: scenario 31, 32
0
Percent of Applicable Accommodation-Requesting Skills ObservedClayScenarios 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
Opening the meetingMaking the requestClosing the meetingAsking for suggestions 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Asking for referral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Planning future actions 0 0 0 0 0
Summarizing 0 0 0 0
RickScenarios 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32
Opening the meetingMaking the requestClosing the meeting 0
Asking for suggestions 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Asking for referral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Planning future actions 0 0 0 0
Summarizing 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
ZaneScenarios 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36
Opening the meetingMaking the requestClosing the meetingAsking for suggestions 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Asking for referral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Planning future actions 0 0 0
Summarizing 0 0
Follow -up 2
Follow -up 2
Follow -up 2
Baseline Post train 1 Post train 2 Post train 3 Follow -up 1
Follow -up 1Post train 2 Post train 3Baseline Post train 1
Follow -up 1Baseline Post train 3Post train 1 Post train 2
Expert Judges - Clay
-3
-2.5
-2
-1.5
-1
-0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
Cla
y's
perf
orm
ance
bef
ore
and
afte
r tr
aini
ng
Before Training After training
Expert Judges - Rick
-3
-2.5
-2
-1.5
-1
-0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
Ric
k's
perf
orm
ance
bef
ore
and
afte
r tr
aini
ng
Before Training After training
Expert Judges - Zane
-2.5
-2
-1.5
-1
-0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
Zane
's pe
rfor
man
ce b
efor
e an
d af
ter t
rani
ng
Before Training After training
Participants stated that:The training was useful to them
They would be more capable of successfully requesting academic accommodations
They would recommend the training to other students with disabilities
Self-advocacy skill training is a valuable tool for:
Students with disabilities
Those who provide services to the students with disabilities in higher education
Because once students with disabilities are aware of their needs and know how to communicate them, they will reduce the need for service personnel to advocate on their behalf
Self-advocacy is:
A life-time skill
An essential part of empowerment, a process by which people with disabilities can gain more control over their lives
This self-advocacy training package can be modified and applied to:
Any culture
Working environment to help empower people with disabilities
Disability laws provide an open door to people with disabilities, but more efforts are still needed to:Include people with disabilities in to full participation into society
Create environments in which people with disabilities can maximize their capacity for making social and economic contributions
Have their “say” in decisions, policies, and programs that affect their life, not just only passive recipients of charity acts
While it is not a replacement for personal and systems advocacy, increased attention and support should be given for disability research to provide valid and reliable data concerning the:
Impact of specific disability policies, programs, and practices on people with disabilities
Relationship between personal and environmental factors that affect independent living outcomes for people with disabilities.