Government to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities

The life improvement for people with disabilities, according to the Government policy, aims to support them by providing public transportation and other facilities, investigating companies that do not hire people with disabilities, adding more pay channels in the E-Payment system, improving health care, and allowing them to choose either universal health care or social insurance.

The National Committee for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities has agreed with the draft of the fifth Life Improvement for People with Disabilities plan (2017-2021), with the vision "The people with disabilities can truly access the facilities and can live happily in society,” and it has assigned the Department for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities to proceed accordingly.

According to the Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities Act, B.E. 2550 (2007), and its amendment (Vol. 2) B.E. 2556 (2013), it prohibits discriminatory actions that result in the loss of benefits or rights of persons with disabilities on the grounds of their disabilities. 

The employment policy is that public and private organizations are required to hire person with disabilities at the ratio of one disabled person to 100 regular employees. 

However, employers who do not comply with the employment of persons with disabilities ratio must make a payment to the Fund for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities.

At the urging of the Government, many public sector agencies tend to hire more people with disabilities to work in their organizations; for instance, the Ministry of Public Health plans to hire more than 1,200 people with disabilities to work in its health service centers around the country in the next fiscal year. 

The ministry has so far employed 513 people with disabilities to work in health organizations in 47 provinces.