Disability in Cambodia

Have questions or resources regarding Khmer Culture? This forum is all about the Kingdom of Cambodia's culture. Khmer language, Cambodian weddings, French influence, Cambodian architecture, Cambodian politics, Khmer customs, etc? This is the place. Living in Cambodia can cause you to experience a whole new level of culture shock, so feel free to talk about all things related to the Khmer people, and their traditions. And if you want something in Khmer script translated into English, you will probably find what you need.
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Re: Disability in Cambodia

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Interesting about the development of Khmer sign language.

PM HE Calls on TV Stations to Set Up Sign Language
02/07/19 12:23
Phnom Penh (FN), July 1 – Cambodian Prime Minister HE once again appealed to the heads of TV stations to set up sign language to enable deaf people to access information through television channels.

The appeal was made on Monday, 1 July, at the meeting with members and staff of Krousar Thmey Foundation, the first Cambodian Foundation helping disadvantaged children.

The premier will observe every channel and call straight to the owner of channel to setup the sign language. He also stressed that he will help cover the cost of setting up the sign language any TV channels that claim losing their profits.

Krousar Tmey Foundation is the first Cambodian Foundation helping disadvantaged children, building a world in which children are empowered to grow into independent and responsible adults.
Krousar Thmey operates three programs – education for deaf or blind children, child welfare, and cultural and artistic development – in 14 Cambodian provinces.

It is worth noting that the sign language committee was formed in 2013 due to the emergence of a Cambodian sign language through various organizations. Including both deaf and hearing members, the committee successfully developed the Khmer sign language and is now responsible for his improvement, adapting textbooks for each grade while circulating a specialized dictionary.

Follow the link to learn about history of Krousar Tmey Foundation: www.krousar-thmey.org/en/qui-sommes-nous/our-history/
=FRESH NEWS
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Re: Disability in Cambodia

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Blind Youth Shaping His Dream Amidst Digitalisation
AKP Phnom Penh, August 26, 2019 --

Supporting environment enabled by the government and foundation education have allowed a blind Cambodian youth to take advantage of on-going digital era – making him feel just like the able bodied.

Born blind in Kean Svay district of Kandal province, Sun Borey now is thankful to the inclusive education system that allowed him to successfully graduate from HE Phnom Penh Thmey High School four years ago.

His learning journey did not end there. The hard working young man is currently a senior student for a bachelor degree in English at Panha Chiet University here in Phnom Penh.

Like many other Cambodian youth, Borey is so enjoying with various useful applications and digital devices enriching his knowledge and widening his connection to the world, and more importantly he sees no difference between him as a blind and the rest of the youth.

“I own a Facebook account. I am using the platform to network with others. Also, I can access to YouTube,” says Borey.

But how could this possible?

“There are many online applications that support blind users like me to access to social media platforms as well as digital device. I am using an application called Screen Reader to access to information on Facebook and YouTube,” he explains.

According to online information, Screen Reader is a form of assistive technology which is essential to people who are blind, as well as useful to people who are visually impaired, illiterate, or have a learning disability. It attempts to convey what people with normal eyesight see on a display to their users via non-visual means, like text-to-speech, sound icons, or a Braille device.

Borey now has many friends on his Facebook account, and he spends a certain amount of time a day on social media to get himself connected to his networks and updated to the latest news.

To browse through websites and operate his computer programmes, Borey is using a software called NVDA (Non Visual Desktop Assess).

“The advancement of technologies has allowed many possibilities for people with critical disability like me. This inspires me to live up to my dream of having a decent job.
Full article: https://www.akp.gov.kh/post/detail/15781
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Re: Disability in Cambodia

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October 30, 2019
Disability Action Council calls for more adaptation of Braille books
The Social Affairs Ministry’s Disability Action Council is calling on the Kingdom to adopt more books into various disabled-friendly formats, including Braille books and e-books with larger fonts.

DAC secretary-general Em Chan Makara made the call during a workshop on Monday about the Marrakesh Treaty, which aims to facilitate access to print works transcribed for those who are blind or visually impaired.

The Kingdom signed the treaty in December 2012 and began ratifying the agreement one month later.

Mr Chan Makara said the work is important because 35 percent of Cambodians [sic] are currently either visually impaired or blind and they need to be able to receive information.

“We do not yet have enough adapted books for the blind or visually impaired,” Mr Chan Makara said. “I can say that developing countries can only adapt one percent of all books to Braille books, while developed countries can only translate seven percent. These numbers are very little.”

He noted that in Cambodia, Braille books produced by the Education Ministry and the Krousar Thmey organisation are only available for limited use.

Mr Chan Makara said the DAC is discussing how those who are blind or visually impaired can have more access to books in various formats.

“The treaty is very important for our Kingdom, especially in providing benefits for the blind and visually impaired,” he said. “We are discussing with each other on whether now is a good time for us to do this while our country is developing.”

Mr Chan Makara said as previous generations grow older, the number of those with reading disabilities will increase.

“Therefore, increasing access to such materials and books for people with visual disabilities is necessary and important for our society,” he said, noting that getting authors to allow their copyrighted books to be adapted is also important.
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50655495/d ... lle-books/
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Re: Disability in Cambodia

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Cambodia Is Still Failing Its Disabled Persons
Despite the government’s rhetoric, the reality is much more concerning.
The Diplomat - February 19, 2020

The launch of Cambodia’s National Disability Strategic Plan 2019-2023 in November provided yet another occasion for fawning. King Norodom Sihamoni lauded the government’s “willingness and commitment…to serve persons with disabilities in Cambodia,” while Prime Minister HE (who never tires of reminding the public he, too, has a disability: an eye lost while he was fighting for the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime) boasted of his regime’s achievement.

But his government, in reality, has for a decade done next to nothing about the issue. Yes, some disabled people have benefited from broader improvements to the social security system, though many still go without adequate state aid. And, of course, changing public opinions about disabilities is difficult, and making sure the private sector focuses on the abilities of potential employees, not their disabilities, is hard going even in developed countries. But you might think that a “willing” and “committed” government would focus on things it can easily change, like who it employs.

In full: https://thediplomat.com/2020/02/cambodi ... d-persons/
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Re: Disability in Cambodia

Post by pczz »

jeez half the non disabled kids cannot read and write and suffer from malnutrition and we are banging on about disabled riights. Money is finite and, sad as it might be, it has to be spent where it can do most good. You have $100 you can buy schoolbooks for 20 kids or maybe 1 set in brail.
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Re: Disability in Cambodia

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February 28, 2020
Save the Children promotes sign language learning

Save the Children and Krousar Thmey will hold an event today to promote their Accelerating Sign Language project, which helps children with hearing impairment access quality education.

According to a statement by Save the Children, the project was founded by Australia’s Foreign Affairs Department and Trade. The project focuses on delivering Khmer sign language lessons to the children.

Neang Phalla, director of Krousar Thmey, said the NGO is currently helping 727 students who have vision and hearing impairments learn in five of its schools.

“Children with impairments can now learn like other children because of the help from governments and NGOs,” Ms Phalla said. “Do not keep children with impairments at home – they need education like other children for a better future.”

Elizabeth Pearce, country director for Save the Children, said project developers are testing open-source video modules to help children with hearing impairment learn sign language in communities and primary schools.
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50696042/s ... e-learning
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Re: Disability in Cambodia

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Cambodia’s disabled left behind
Jillian Louis
3 March 2020
Providing accessibility for the disabled is a major determinant for developing countries to qualify as developed nations. Most ASEAN countries apart from Singapore, struggle to provide basic structures for accessibility in public buildings, schools, transportation, and even tourist spots.

While small steps are being made across the continent to improve access, much of Asia remains inaccessible to wheelchair users, who face a multitude of issues navigating cities, finding accommodation and accessing attractions.

The underdevelopment of these facilities has been internationally highlighted by tourists travelling from Western countries, complaining that they do not have the freedom to explore attractions in Southeast Asia as they lack wheelchair-friendly options.

Accessibility is just one of the many factors that pose a significant barrier for disabled people in society. Nonetheless, the physical environment is a crucial part of the infrastructure that would allow development in other areas such as access to education, employment, entertainment and other facilities that able-bodied people have direct access to.

In Cambodia, the Phnom Penh Centre For Independent Living, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) with the mission to empower people with severe disabilities to live independently, reported that the physical environment in Cambodia contains multiple obstacles – where public streets and roadways have no facilities for persons with disabilities, and getting around is dangerous at best – in many cases almost impossible.
Disability prevalence in Southeast AsiaSource: United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP)

While the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 15 percent of the global population lives with disabilities, data on disabled Cambodians vary from eight percent of the population in 2009 to two percent in 2015. It is safe to say that inconsistent data collection methods reflect the poor understanding of disability that stems from various reasons.

A study in 2016 by the University of Melbourne found that less than four percent of disabled Cambodians receive any form of financial assistance from the government even though Cambodia passed a sub-decree in 2011 entitling citizens living with severe functional impairments to a monthly pension.

At a workshop organised by the Disability Action Council to develop Cambodia’s National Disability Strategic Plan, Cheat Sokha, a participant who suffered a serious spinal injury following an artillery explosion in 1985, told local media that disabled people in Cambodia continue to receive fewer opportunities in education and at the workplace.

“People with disabilities receive less attention and encouragement from family and society. As a consequence, they lose the chance to receive an education or skills to improve their quality of life," explained Sokha. "Schools and educational institutions do not currently make proper allowances to accommodate disabled people either."

Stronger action plans in order to develop infrastructure that meets the needs of the disabled in Cambodia is urgently needed, especially for those in rural villages that are unable to leave their houses to earn a living, who are forced to stay at home and remain in constant need of assistance.
https://theaseanpost.com/article/cambod ... eft-behind
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Re: Disability in Cambodia

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Cambodian double amputee artist fights stigma through art
By Afp
Published: 02:15 BST, 21 April 2020 | Updated: 02:35 BST, 21 April 2020
Image
Whispered insults, social isolation, and lost opportunities -- Morn Chear is channelling the stigma he has endured since he lost both his hands a decade ago into artwork that highlights the hardships of Cambodia's disabled.

At 20, he was electrocuted in a construction accident and both his hands developed gangrene, pushing doctors to amputate them below the elbow.

"I was depressed, I did not know what I could do to earn money to feed my family," he tells AFP of the shock he felt when he woke up from surgery.

Ten years later, Chear has found his place at an arts collective based in Siem Reap, where he specialises in Linocut block printing -- a technique rarely used in Cambodia.

Open Studio Cambodia represent several contemporary artists, selling their pieces out of an airy studio in the heart of a city famed for the Angkor Wat temple complex.

Linocut block printing requires a deft handle to chisel a scene into a block of linoleum, and then applying ink on the print toter he lost his arms.

"Most of my artwork are all about my real stories," he tells AFP, gesturing at a piece that features himself sitting in a hammock as others walk towards a pagoda.

Chear remembers the incident of his friends snubbing him clear as day -- "Don't call him to come with us, he is handicapped, it's embarrassing," he recalls them whispering.
He was nicknamed "A-Kambot" by villagers, a derogatory Khmer word for the handicapped, after his return home -- which "pierced" him deeply, and made him question whether if life was worth living.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/a ... a-art.html
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Re: Disability in Cambodia

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More on the Krousar Thmey Foundation and their work on sign language projects for deaf Cambodian children, including a new app called 'Words and Pictures'. This app can be used by anyone wanting to learn Khmer sign language.

Krousar Thmey empowering children with hearing issues
Pan Simala | Publication date 27 April 2020 | 21:10 ICT
As children with hearing disabilities face many challenges in terms of communication and have specific educational needs, Krousar Thmey has utilised technology to create a mobile learning app as a resource for disadvantaged children.

The newly launched ‘Words and Pictures’ app is dedicated to helping children with hearing and speech impairments. Even their relatives and friends can access a tool in the app to practice Cambodian Sign Language.

The app can also assist anyone interested in learning basic written and spoken Khmer or English, as well as Cambodian Sign Language.

According to Juliette Ezdra, a project and donor relations manager at Krousar Thmey Foundation, the organisation has worked with the Cambodian Sign Language Committee and the National Institute for Special Education to ensure the relevance of the application for children with hearing impairments.

“It is important to create adapted resources helping disadvantaged children, We believe that technology is a valuable tool in providing access to education and communication, which is why we created this educative and innovative application,” she says.
Full article: https://www.phnompenhpost.com/lifestyle ... rAaTJdGrug
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Re: Disability in Cambodia

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Amid Pandemic, Cambodian Sign Language Education Needed More than Ever
26 May 2020
PHNOM PENH -- When the coronavirus outbreak became a global pandemic in March, millions of people followed conferences and news broadcasts to understand this threat.

Sorn Sreynuch, 36 and a mother of two, also wanted to find out more. But while people around the world quickly got used to hearing and saying ‘coronavirus’ dozens of times a day, Sreynuch had to first figure out how to actually say the word: as a sign language interpreter, she had no dictionary to fall back on to.

She quickly went on YouTube to search for a new sign for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. She was looking for something that would encapsulate the disease and the global threat it posed.

“Then, I asked deaf [colleagues], what sign should I gesture to make deaf people understand COVID-19,” Sreynuch said. “I explained to them that the disease is related to lungs and breathing, and I tell them how to protect themselves, washing hands and so on. They helped to create a new sign that is supposed to be understood by other deaf people [in Cambodia].”

In an interview with VOA Khmer, she explained the meaning of the symbol that they came up with. “This represents the earth, the world,” she said, clenching her left hand to perform the sign while moving her open right-hand palm around the fist, “and this shows it’s spreading all over the world.”

There are officially more than 520,000 people with disabilities in Cambodia, nearly 4 percent of the population. Of those, more than 40,000 are deaf, according to the latest official number, the Cambodia Socio-Economic Survey 2014. Others have estimated the number to be as high as 80,000.
https://www.voacambodia.com/a/amid-pand ... 36168.html
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