The Interior Minister of Thailand claimed over the weekend that giving 2000 baht to a blind person could not be construed as vote buying because the blind are legally incompetent and not eligible to vote. (See story)
Now, the minister was quickly upbraided by the Thai Association of the Blind President. The blind are not legally incompetent and are allowed to vote. (The issue of vote buying I will leave to another time).
But to address a broader issue, the situation of the disabled in Thailand is distressing to say the least. They are discriminated against in employment, education, entertainment, and general society. The kind of ignorance that the Interior Minister exhibits is almost universal. Most businesses simply will not hire disabled persons. This leaves them dependent on family members, or on working as market or street venders, or begging. It is an unfortunate situation, that doesn't really seem to be changing.
Every year my language school holds a graduation ceremony for our students. The US Consulate always sends someone to speak. Last year the new General Consul came. He spoke on the value of learning foreign languages. That Stuffed Shirt somehow managed to leave the impression that because he spoke Russian, he and his buddy Ronald Reagan were able to topple the Soviet Union. That guy is really full of himself. This year we were luckier. We got an assistant consul. The interesting thing was that this guy was blind. He gave a good speech, articulate, funny, made appropriate Thai references that our students could relate to. He never mentioned his blindness. I was glad that our graduates and their families could see a blind person in a position of responsibility and authority. I hope his work with the Consulate will help change some people's attitudes regarding the blind and other persons with disabilities.
The position of disabled in Thailand is probably close to what it was in this country in the 1900s.
ReplyDeleteThe Americans with Disability Act (ADA) was passed fairly recently and in my opinion went waaay too far in the other direction, to the point that it (1) dramatically raised the cost of doing business to the point where some if not many small business simply folded, and (2) further lessed the ability of US businesses to compete in the open market against companies who were not compelled to hire people to sign for blind workers, or install new bathrooms and ramps everywhere, or publish all their reports in braile.
As is so often the case, the ideal is likely somewhere in the middle. If a worker can do a job as well as a non-disabled one, they should have equal chance at being hired. If huge and costly concessions are forced on an employer just to fill a quota, it does not work much better than forced racial quotos and nobody really wins.
My post above should have read the very early 1900s.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what the current policy of hiring disabled workers is in China today.
That is sad to read but I am glad that your Thai students were able to see a blind person doing such an excellent job!
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