Breaking barriers: Tackling challenges of inclusivity in Thailand
Thailand provides free education, from primary school to college, for each and every person with disabilities, yet the reality paints a stark picture. Less than 10% of people with disabilities even get around to completing their high school, let alone being gainfully employed.
Even though Thailand has implemented the Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities Act to ensure all persons with disabilities are employed, only 6.2% of them are actually part of the workforce. As for infrastructure that allows inclusivity, Thailand lags far behind its neighbours.
Kantapong Rangsesawang, director general of the Social Development and Human Security Ministry’s Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, explained that a fundamental shift in society is needed to combat discrimination against the disabled. He said the prevalent belief, rooted in Buddhism, is that disability is bad karma from a past life. This itself fosters discriminatory attitudes.
Though efforts to combat this discrimination have been made, including the establishment of a sub-committee in 2021 with quasi-judicial powers, prejudice still persists.
“We should see people with disabilities not as a burden, but as individuals with potential,” Kantapong said.
Efforts to encourage inclusivity are also challenged by the fact that the disabled are separated from an early age and sent to special schools.
The separating divide
Piraya Kalapat, principal of Bangkok’s Thungmahamek School for the Deaf, advocates inclusivity, saying that this integration fosters understanding and empathy.
“I disagree with how we separate schools for disabled people. Why? I think everyone, at one point, needs to live together. Deaf students might be content studying with other deaf students because they can communicate easily. But once they finish school and need to live outside, they will instantly feel the difference,” she said. “It will be tough for them to adjust to society.”
However, she admits the concept of inclusive schools is still a “pie in the sky”. “Schools are segregated at their very structure, which means, including students with disabilities in an ordinary school will require a restructuring of the facilities,” Piraya said.
For instance, she said, schools will need sign-language interpreters, signs in braille, access ramps and other services.
The department has tied up with Suan Dusit University Ratchasuda College Mahidol University to design a free 135-hour course on sign language. The aim is to produce 180 more sign language interpreters by September.
Held back by misconceptions
According to Piraya, most students with impaired hearing and learning difficulties at her school go on to pursue university education. However, according to the Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation Ministry, only 1.2% of people with disabilities embraced higher education in 2021.
Kantapong said this was one of the biggest challenges faced by the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities.
“More than 90% of people with disabilities do not have access to their basic rights and welfare due to poverty and the misconception that you don’t have to do anything if you are disabled. You can just stay home and the government will look after you,” he said.
“But most importantly, it is the perspective people in society have towards the handicapped – they are still viewed as incomplete human beings. Plus, schools for people with special needs are not available in every province.”
He said the lack of schools for children with special needs is another reason why this part of the population is being left behind. There are only 49 schools for students with disabilities in 38 provinces. Of them, 20 are for students with intellectual deficiencies, 21 for the hearing impaired, two for those with impaired vision and six for those with physical handicaps.
Kantapong said that at this ratio, the rate of employment for disabled persons should be eight times more than the current 50,000.
Piraya, however, said the 100:1 ratio may not be realistic and the government should consider both the employer’s and the person with disabilities’s needs.
“We want to ensure that people are not stuck with their disability. We want to see them able to take care of themselves and their families just like everybody else. They should be empowered and be proud of themselves just like everybody else,” she said.
Tough climb
“Leaving the house is a daunting task. Look at Bangkok’s map, it is full of black spots [areas inaccessible to people with disabilities]. Opportunities lie in the infrastructure, yet we are blocked from it. We are blocked from accessing our basic rights,” said wheelchair-bound Manit Intharapim.
Manit is the founder of Accessibility is Freedom, a non-governmental organisation that is calling for an inclusive and equitable society through universal infrastructure. Manit has been working in the field for more than a decade now.
In Bangkok, people with disabilities have free access to the Skytrain and the subway, discounted fares on buses, special rates at hospitals and many other facilities. Yet the city’s footpaths, pedestrian bridges, buildings and many more places are not accessible to them.
So, the question arises, why aren’t all buildings constructed with wheelchairs in mind?
“There are plenty of laws in place, including the Condominium Act, the Building Control Act and many ministerial regulations. They all provide details on how tall, steep or size of a slope should be, yet developers ignore them,” said Kantapong.
Manit pointed out that even footpaths are constructed without any thought given to the handicapped or the elderly. “We had high hopes that things would change under the Bangkok governor [Chadchart Sitthipunt], but very little has been done,” he said.
Kantapong, meanwhile, recounted a handicapped person’s trip to Japan. “A person with impaired vision barely felt he was disabled while he was in Japan. Yet, he was reminded of his disability as soon as he landed at Suvarnabhumi Airport. This means the universal design in Thailand still has many limitations that need to be discussed,” Kantapong said.
In the research paper, “A Review of Universal Design and Accessibility in Implementation Strategies among Asian Countries”, Nur Amirah Abd Samad and Asiah Abdul Rahim compare accessibility legislation between developed countries like Japan and Singapore and developing countries like Thailand and Malaysia.
The paper reveals that the built-up environment in Singapore and Japan is far more evolved thanks to stringent government policies. In developing countries, indiscipline and ignorance of rules, as well as the limitation of understanding on the part of architects, planners and designers, make “universal design” difficult to achieve.
Plus, Singapore and Japan need to focus more on ease of access due to a fast-ageing population.
According to a 2022 World Bank report, 29.92% of the total population in Japan had crossed the 65 age bracket, while in Thailand the number was 15.21%.
Public awareness and destigmatising disability issues is another topic the researchers highlighted, saying these issues have been effectively tackled within Japan and Singapore, compared to Malaysia and Thailand.
People with potential
“We never know what the future holds and what can happen with our bodies. It is not just about disability, but about everybody. The ‘disabled’ label in itself is an indicator of a non-inclusive landscape,” Manit said.
The Thai government gives 800 to 1,000 baht every month to people with disabilities. Manit said that for people in need, this kind of help is essential but empowerment is even more important.
“The society still looks at the disabled with a gloomy, dark, unpleasant filter,” he said, adding that throwing money at the problem is not a solution.
“We need to provide. No matter what their condition is, we need to help them become independent. For instance, if a child contracts polio, you first give him a wheelchair, then teach him to study and then to travel.
“Everybody wants to be independent, and the disabled are no exception. No matter what their physical condition is, a person with disabilities is a person with potential,” Manit said.
