If businesses provide people with disabilities with appropriatefacilities to work, they can increase their output, the head of a smallcompany that hires such people told a recent workshop in Ho Chi MinhCity.

Tran Thi Trung Thuan, Director of Thien Tam Service, Tradeand Manufacture Co.Ltd, told the workshop held by the DisabilityResearch and Capacity Development (DRD) Centre, that her company, whichproduces herbal products like therapeutic herbal pillows and face masks,has three people with disabilities — a man with Down syndrome and oneeach with hearing and sight impairment.

They have passion for their work, she said.

Theman with moderate intellectual disability cuts herbs and threads afterstitching pillows, cloth bags, and face masks, and his products "are ofbetter quality than those made by his non-disabled colleagues," shesaid.

The man with the hearing impairment draws beautifully, andshe took advantage of his aesthetic gifts to employ him as anembroiderer, she said, adding he is now the company's main embroiderer.

However,many businesses do not trust people with disabilities, and hire few ofthem, according to a study by the city's Institute for DevelopmentStudies.

A 2010 report from the Department of Labour, Invalidsand Social Affairs said only 6,000 out of 18,000 people withdisabilities of working age have jobs.

Luong Thi Quynh Lan,deputy head of the DRD Centre, said a job is a vital element in helpingpeople with disabilities integrate easily into society.

Anotherreason for the low number of disabled people with jobs is that they areprevented from working by sympathetic parents, Thuan said.

"They feel pity for their child with disability and even more pity when they work.

"They do not think that work will be a therapy for their child. It is the way for them to integrate into society."

Theman with Down syndrome, for instance, had to quit his job twice, sherevealed. At home, he was confined to his room to watch television allday.

"He was upset and constantly shrieked. He remembered his joband so would cut up books in his room like cutting leaves and threads."

Pained by his situation when visiting him, she persuaded his parents to send him to back to work.

LeHuu Thuong, a job consultant at the DRD Centre, said he once persuaded acompany to recruit a person with disability and it agreed, but theperson then told him her parents refused to allow her to work.

Parents of people with disabilities should be aware of the importance of jobs for their children, he added.

LuuThi Anh Loan, head of the DRD Centre, said the centre plans to organiseworkshops for parents of people with disabilities to educate them aboutthis issue.-VNA