People with disabilities call for more legal protections, employment opportunities

By DMG 03 Dec 2022

DMG Newsroom
3 December 2022, Sittwe 

People with disabilities called for greater legal protections and economic opportunity on International Day of Persons with Disabilities, which falls annually on December 3. 

Social organisations point out that people with disabilities in Myanmar are deprived of their rights under the law, especially in terms of employment prospects. U Hla Myint, chairman of the Arakan State Association for Persons with Disabilities, said disabled people face more difficulties obtaining employment than non-disabled people due to transportation-related difficulties and other challenges. 

“Normal people can do convenient jobs, but disabled people can’t. People with disabilities should be prioritised in workplaces. We should create decent careers for people with disabilities. Concerned officials should also focus on the disabled,” he said. 

Civil society organisations (CSOs) have also called for greater protections and livelihood support for people with disabilities in Myanmar, whom advocates say have yet to fully benefit from legislation passed years ago and intended to promote the wellbeing of the disabled. 

The chairwoman of the Rakhine Women’s Network said there are few employment opportunities for people with disabilities in Arakan State’s current socioeconomic environment. 

“People with disabilities should not be neglected, and rather should be empowered to become one with the common people. It is necessary to look at the data on the ability of the disabled to get jobs. At a time when living conditions are so difficult, I would like to say that there should be some kind of support for the disabled,” she said. 

“People with disabilities are discriminated against and subjected to violence,” said a disabled woman from Minbya Township. “If they are deaf, rude things are done to them. There are those who are not able to respond and are abused. In the workplace, even though they do the same job, there are people [without disabilities] who get more money than people with disabilities.” 

Under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Law, people with disabilities are entitled to the same rights as everyone else politically and economically, as well as in education, public affairs and various other aspects of life. Despite these statutory guarantees, many people with disabilities remain deprived of their rights under the law, CSOs have pointed out. 

There were 505,503 people with disabilities — of whom 207,012 were vision-impaired and 110,264 were hard of hearing — in Arakan State, according to the 2019 inter-censal survey. 

The ranks of those who have lost limbs or otherwise been disabled due to landmine explosions, stray gunfire and artillery strikes continue to increase in Arakan State, despite the reaching of the latest ceasefire between the Myanmar military and Arakan Army on November 26.