Representatives from 35 associations for people with disabilities, as well as authorised agencies, shared their experience in developing effective models to support disabled people during a conference in Ho Chi Minh City on June 13.

Hoang Chi Trung, head of the Department of International Organisations under the Foreign Ministry, held that most disabled people in Vietnam are facing many difficulties in their daily lives as they are dependent on their families and society for support.

The majority of them are unemployed and have poor access to social services, which makes it harder for them to integrate into the society, he said.

He asserted that it is necessary to develop the network of organisations and groups representing people with disabilities to help them engage more in social activities.

Sharing experience in building and promoting the network, Duong Thi Van, Chairman of the Hanoi Disabled People Association, said it is important to promote the coordination with local government and organisations in implementing activities involving people with disabilities, while strengthening communications to improve the role of the handicapped.

She also underscored the need to listen to disabled people when building legal documents and give them suitable training to help them develop comprehensively.

According to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), about 80 percent of the total 600 million handicapped people in the world are living in developing countries.

Currently, Vietnam has about 6.7 million people with disabilities, accounting for nearly 8 percent of the population, it said, adding that the figure is on the rise due to increasing traffic and labour accidents as well as serious environmental pollution.

During the conference, jointly organised by the Disability Research and Capacity Development, the Hanoi Disabled People Association and the Action to the Community Centre, participants also discussed how to settle obstacles for the handicapped in travelling and job seeking.-VNA