Disability in Laos
Disability in Laos is an excluding factor from social and professional life. Very often, the education of children with disabilities is not supported by public schools. The environment can be an aggravating factor in cases of disability (poverty, lack of information and care), hence the importance for children of having a place that can respond to their problems.
The issue of disability in Laos is a subject that affects a significant part of the population. The figures are unfortunately poorly known, especially concerning mental disability.
The physical handicap is often due to the still unexploded bombs under Lao soil, remnants of the war. Even today, it happens that people are victims of these explosions and come out seriously affected.
But the most underestimated part of handicap is that of mental handicap, be it deafness, dumbness, autism and other forms. These disabilities are not only not taken into account, but they are an important factor of exclusion socially speaking. A child with a mental handicap is seen as a burden, but culturally the handicap is perceived as the trace of a past fault. To find out more, you canclick on the linkand consult an article dedicated to disability.
Faced with these forms of disability, PEMM is particularly committed to children. Children with disabilities have much more difficulty in going to school and getting started in working life. Public schools do not adapt to their particularity, and families are either overwhelmed by this handicap, or are unaware of it because the child has not been diagnosed.
In our medical training offer, we offer training on disability. Jacques VAZEILLES who is one of our volunteer doctors, child psychiatrist and autism specialist has set up training on autism. At least once a year (outside the COVID period), a team of doctors goes to the LUANG PRABANG Deaf and Dumb Center to examine the children and carry out a health check.
We work and act in concert with the centers and associations on site. The objective is to support children with mental disabilities, to raise awareness and recognize the disability, in order to better take care of patients. We work with different centers and different partners.
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Deaf and Mute Center
The Deaf and Mute Center in Luang Prabang is both a school and a home for young girls. It welcomes young people from the age of 7 to 19 years old. It is a place of learning and training that allows young deaf and/or dumb people to communicate, integrate socially and build their future.
Autism Center and Association for autism
The Autism Center in Vientiane is the workplace of the Association for Autism (AFA) in Laos. It is an association that represents and supports children with autism and their parents. This center offers an environment for children with autism so that they can develop at their own pace, taking into account the difficulties they face.