Vocational programme big boost for special-needs people
THE COUNTRY'S first bakery operated by people with special needs will open opposite Bangkok's Ramathibodi Hospital next month.
Somchai Charoen-umnuaisuke, chief of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities Department, said 10 special-needs people were trained by the department and the Asia-Pacific Development Centre on Disability to operate the business.
He said the venture would show society that people with special needs had potential, but rarely got the chance to show that.
Somchai was speaking at Nakhonluang Polytechnic College, which runs the Inclusive Vocational Education programme.
Under the fledgling programme there are inclusive vocational courses at six polytechnic colleges, which have helped children with special needs learn vocational skills as well as improve concentration, better control of emotions and boost overall self-confidence.
Piyanuch Chotikastain, the leader of a network of parents of children with special needs, said her 16-year-old autistic son had utilised the programme by taking cooking, knitting and computer science courses the past eight months.
“His concentration is much better. Now he can spend several hours focusing on making scarves, which is amazing for me because before that he could not even sit still for one hour,” she said.
She said her son also controlled his emotions better and had become more rational.
She said he had previously had an irrational desire to buy dog leashes and he threw tantrums if she refused to buy one.
Wanit Uamsri, deputy chief of the Office of Vocational Education Commission, said statistics showed that children with special needs who took a three-year vocational course in an appropriate field could earn an average of about Bt6 million per person throughout their working life.
Wanit said that given 10,000 children with special needs were born in Thailand per year, they would contribute a total of Bt60 billion to the economy if they all found work.
The Inclusive Vocational Education programme was launched five months ago. It is held at the Nakhonluang, Phra Nakhon, Si Phraya, Thon Buri, Samut Prakan and Chiang Mai polytechnic colleges.