Sharing vision - Bringing Empowerment

Seminar (continuing with session V): Disability Law 2010 – High time for changes!?

  • Perform: Le Hoa (Translator: Anh Nguyen)
  • 27/06/2022

SESSION VI: DISCUSSION ON ISSUES ABOUT COMPLETING POLICIES TO STRENGTHEN MEANS TO ENSURE THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES IN THE FIELD OF CULTURE, PHYSICAL EXERCISE, SPORTS, ENTERTAINMENT AND TOURISM IN DISABILITY LAW 2010 

As a part of the series of articles written to help complete Disability Law 2010, in this session, the Editorial Board will present to the readers an article focusing on analyzing several policies about ensuring accessibility and inclusivity for persons with disabilities in the field of culture, physical exercise and sports, entertainment, and tourism. This article will also mention several problems and shortcomings from the institutions, as well as propose some content related to strengthening the aforementioned policies. 

The rights to be guaranteed access, participation and encouragement to participate in activities of culture, sports, recreation and tourism, on an equal basis as non-disabled people and suitable to the capability of persons with disabilities, were demonstrated quite clearly in Article 30 of the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).[1] In Vietnam, the issue of policies ensuring the rights of persons with disabilities to participate in those aforementioned fields were shown in the Constitution 2013; the Disability Law 2010 and other relevant legal documents. This article focuses on analyzing a number of policies ensuring the rights to access and participation of persons with disabilities in the fields of culture, sports, recreation and tourism, along with a few problems, shortcomings from the institutions, as well as proposing some content related to strengthening the mentioned policies in the current Disability Law 2010. 

The positive sides of policies ensuring the rights of persons with disabilities in the fields of culture, sports, recreation and tourism in accordance with the current Vietnamese law 

It's safe to say that up to now, in general, the Vietnamese legal system has constructed a fairly comprehensive fundamental legal framework, ensuring the rights of persons with disabilities in the fields of culture, sports, recreation and tourism in accordance with the viewpoint of Article 30 of the CRPD and of the Constitution 2013.[2] The mentioned above policies ensuring rights of persons with disabilities were regulated quite thoroughly in the Disability Law 2010; the Law on Physical Training and Sports 2019; the Law on Libraries 2019; etc. and other documents under regulations [3]. The content of those policies concentrates on these key issue groups as following: 

* Ensuring assistance in activities of culture, sports, recreation and tourism suitable with the characteristics of persons with disabilities; making way for persons with disabilities to enjoy culture, sports, recreation and tourism, including developing talents in culture, arts and sports; engaging in composing and performing arts; training and competing in sports, etc. 

* Advancing the investment in equipment and facilities; upgrading and repairing facilities to ensure the conditions of accessibility for persons with disabilities in culture, sports, recreation and tourism centers. 

* Discounts on tickets and service prices for persons with severe and very severe disabilities when using certain services in culture, sports, recreation and tourism; 

* Applying penalty to violations of the rights of persons with disabilities in the fields of culture, sports, recreation and tourism; [4] etc. 

Specifically, with regulations of general principle in the Disability Law 2010, the section about policies ensuring the rights of persons with disabilities to access the use of public construction works has been integrated in the regulations of specialized laws, such as the Law on Physical Training and Sports 2019; the Law on Libraries 2019 and other implementation guideline documents. Additionally, in the field of tourism, there are also legal documents regulating the requirements to ensure accessibility for persons with disabilities when participating in tourism activities [5].

Some limitations, shortcomings from the policies and recommendations for improvement solutions: 

In addition to the positive sides of the mentioned above policies, from our research point of view, there still exists the following limitations and shortcomings: 

Firstly, the groups of persons with disabilities who benefit from policies on exemptions and reductions of ticket prices and service fees in the fields of culture, sports, recreation and tourism are still too restricted. 

Right now, according to the Disability Law 2010 and the Implementing Decree guiding this law, there are 02 groups of persons with disabilities who are entitled to the policies on exemptions and reductions of ticket prices and service fees [6], including: (i) Persons with very severe disabilities are completely entitled; (ii) Persons with severe disabilities are entitled to at a minimum of 50% discount on ticket prices and service fees when directly using services in the fields of culture, sports, recreation and tourism at a number of cultural and sports centers[7]

The arising problem here is that currently, persons with mild disabilities rarely ever get to receive care about ticket prices and service fees discount in the fields of culture, sports, recreation and tourism. Specifically in these fields, according to our research, persons with mild disabilities currently only are entitled to be free of charges for library cards (Clause 5, Article 44, the Law on Libraries 2019). 

The arrangement of prioritizing of assisting policies based on the levels of disabilities of persons with disabilities in the Disability Law 2010 (and related documents) is generally quite accurate and reasonable, especially in regards to areas such as social protection, transportations; health insurance... However, in the fields of culture, sports, recreation and tourism, specific characteristics need to be taken into account to ensure the flexibility, suitability and effectiveness of the content in prioritizing and assisting policies for persons with disabilities. More specifically: 

The majority of persons with mild disabilities currently of working age all have jobs and incomes.[8] In the context of people's lives having been improved along with the development rate of the socio-economic status in Vietnam[9], the life condition of persons with disabilities is also being improved to a certain extent in accordance with the general level of society. Subsequently, the needs of persons with disabilities, especially those with mild disabilities, to participate in services in the fields of culture, sports, recreation and tourism are increasing. Particularly in the field of tourism, the number of tourists in numerous local areas in Vietnam in the post-Covid-19 era has grown significantly.[10] However, the lack of definitive preferential policies for persons with mild disabilities in activities of culture, sports, recreation and tourism hasn't been encouraging to persons with disabilities in participating actively in those activities (especially in recreation and tourism). Therefore, we highly suggest: policies on exemptions and reductions of ticket prices and service fees for persons with disabilities when participating in activities of culture, sports, recreation and tourism need to also be applied to persons with mild disabilities (though they may be a lower rate than the ones for persons with severe and very severe disabilities). These policies are not simply just a way to encourage persons with disabilities to participate more in activities of culture, sports, recreation and tourism, but can also be considered as one of the solutions to stimulate the economy that would be effective for the fields of culture, sports, tourism to draw more diverse customers into these services. Because if we extend the groups of persons with disabilities entitled to exemptions and reductions of ticket prices and service fees, the parties who benefit from the aforementioned policies are not only persons with disabilities but also the organizations, businesses in the fields of culture, sports, recreation and tourism through the increase in profits from the number of participants of these services (especially tourism). Lastly, the State itself will also benefit from the increase in tax revenue of local areas in terms of activities of culture, sports, recreation and tourism. 

Therefore, we suggest that authoritative figures should consider amending Clause 2, Article 36 of the Disability Law 2010 in the direction of assigning the Government to regulate the exemptions and reductions of ticket prices of several services in the fields of culture, sports, recreation and tourism for persons with disabilities (without specifying the groups of persons with disabilities entitled to this regulation like in Clause 2, Article 36 of the current Disability Law). Such open regulations would still ensure the orientation of assisting policies for persons with disabilities, while at the same time also ensuring the flexibility and effectiveness in entrusting the Government to make specific decisions in expanding the groups of persons with disabilities entitled to the exemptions and reductions of ticket prices and service fees in the fields of culture, sports, recreation and tourism so they would be suitable with the current developing conditions of the socio-economic status in every stage, as well as guarantee to both enhance the support for persons with disabilities and balance the profits for culture, sports, recreation and tourism centers and the State. 

Secondly, there is a lack of information and accessibility to culture, sports, recreation and tourism centers for persons with disabilities 

In Vietnam today, despite many current efforts to ensure accessibility in culture, sports, recreation and tourism centers for persons with disabilities, in reality, persons with disabilities still face numerous difficulties with accessibility in these buildings.[11] Additionally, one of the notable difficulties that persons with disabilities face is the lack of information provided for them to be able to choose where to participate activities of culture, sports, recreation and tourism, especially when it comes to tourism. In fact, it is not uncommon that: from the very beginning of planning a trip, persons with disabilities usually don't even know where they can go to, or how accessible the destinations, hotels in the tour would be for them. Moreover, even professional tour operators have difficulties gaining information when organizing tours for customers who are persons with disabilities.[12] 

Besides the practical solution of improving websites by providing suggestions for suitable tourist destinations and increasing the level of accessibility for persons with disabilities[13], the problem needs to be dealt with from its root, which when looked at from the legal aspect is the necessity to stipulate the responsibility to ensure the sharing of information of the culture, sports, recreation and tourism establishments themselves. More specifically: 

Regarding the responsibilities of the culture, sports, recreation and tourism centers, the Disability Law 2010 has been regulated quite thoroughly in Article 38 of this Law. For instance, the responsibilities of these establishments to invest in facilities and means of assistance; arrange human resources and means to support persons with disabilities when hosting activities of culture, sports, recreation and tourism; or the responsibilities to renovate and upgrade facilities that don't meet the requirements of accessibility for persons with disabilities, etc. However, the Disability Law 2010 didn't regulate the responsibilities of these establishments to provide specific information about their accessibility level for persons with disabilities. These loopholes in the policies have not created a clear or thorough binding on the liability of these culture, sports, recreation and tourism establishments in ensuring the accessibility for persons with disabilities when participating in activities of culture, sports, recreation and tourism. 

Therefore, to improve the necessary solutions to ensure the rights of persons with disabilities when participating in the aforementioned services, we propose that the State's authoritative agencies need to research and add to Article 38 of the Disability Law 2010 the stipulation of (mandatory) responsibilities of culture, sports, recreation and tourism centers to ensure the public disclosure of information on the accessibility level of their facilities for persons with disabilities. 

Thirdly, the support and encouragement for sports coaches for persons with disabilities and athletes with disabilities winning prizes in sports competitions haven't been clearly established in the policies of the current Disability Law 

In recent years, in the sports field alone, the propelling movements of persons with disabilities both nationally and internationally have been striving: Vietnamese athletes with disabilities have won many medals in international sports events for persons with disabilities, such as in the Asian Paragames 2018, the Vietnam Sports Association of Persons with Disabilities achieved a total of 40 medals of all kinds; they also won 01 silver medal at the Paralympic Tokyo 2020…[14] Behind those victories, there is no denying of the hard work put in by the team of sports coaches and athletes with disabilities. Despite this, in terms of policy mechanisms, currently, both the Law on Physical Training and Sports 2019 and the Disability Law 2010 (Article 37) are lacking legal confirmations of policies that assist and encourage the teams of sports coaches for persons with disabilities and athletes with disabilities who have had great achievements at sports competitions. At the moment, the Government has implemented a number of policies specifically to encourage sports coaches and athletes with disabilities with high achievements at international sports competitions, including those for persons with disabilities[15]. These are the fundamental legal basis to support and encourage the team of sports coaches and athletes with disabilities. Therefore, it is high time to study and consider “legalizing" the ideas expressed in the mentioned above policies of the new Disability Law. In particular, we believe that authoritative agencies should research and consider adding to the content of Article 37 of the Disability Law 2010 that: the State has policies to assist and encourage the team of sports coaches for persons with disabilities and athletes with disabilities with high achievements in sports competitions. 

In summary, the issue of improving the ensurement of the rights of persons with disabilities in the fields of culture, sports, recreation and tourism requires examination, amendment and supplementation to synchronize the integrated policies in different laws. But the policies in the aforementioned fields need to soon be completed first and foremost in the regulations of the new Disability Law, as it is the “specialized" law on the issues of persons with disabilities./. 

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[1] According to Article 30, CRPD: 

States Parties recognize the right of persons with disabilities to take part on an equal basis with others in cultural life, and shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that persons with disabilities: Enjoy access to cultural materials, television programmes, films, theater and other cultural activities, in accessible formats; 

To enable persons with disabilities to participate on an equal basis with others in recreational, leisure and sporting activities; to encourage and promote the participation, to the fullest extent possible, of persons with disabilities in mainstream sporting activities at all levels; to ensure that persons with disabilities have access to sporting, recreational and tourism events; etc. 

[2] Article 40, 41, 59… 

[3] Decree no. 28/2012/NĐ-CP (Article 11), Decree no. 38/2021/NĐ-CP[3] (Article 32), Decision no. 1190/QĐ-TTg (Clause 9, Section II)... 

[4] Decree no. 38/2021/NĐ-CP of the Government regulating sanctions for administrative violations for a number of acts, such as: Refusing to provide services and equipment for persons with disabilities participating in activities of culture, sports, recreation and tourism; Not carrying out exemptions and reductions of ticket prices and service fees for persons with disabilities participating in activities of culture, sports, recreation and tourism as regulations; Refusing to allow persons with disabilities participate in activities of culture and sports for persons with disabilities despite being equipped… 

[5] For example: Decision no. 225/QĐ-TCDL on 08 May 2012 of the Director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism has stated: In equipped places, each restroom should have at least one booth for persons with disabilities. This booth must have a wider door so wheelchairs can enter and there must be guidelines (for wheelchairs) in the restroom. 

[6] Clause 2, Article 36 and Article 11 of Decree no. 28/2012/NĐ-CP. 

[7] Including: Museums, cultural-historical monuments, libraries and exhibitions; Theaters, cinemas; Sports venues when sports activities in the country are held; Other cultural, sports, recreational and tourist establishments. 

[8] According to the National Report on Persons with Disabilities 2016 of the General Statistics Office of Vietnam, the rate of employed persons with disabilities in the age range from 18 to 40 is 46.30%; from 41 to 64 is 57,12%. Most of the employed persons with disabilities are persons with mild disabilities. 

[9] According to the World Bank: From 2002 to 2020, Vietnam's GDP has increased by 3.6 times, reaching nearly 3,700 USD. Source: https://www.worldbank.org/vi/country/vietnam/overview 

[10] According to the General Statistics Office of Vietnam: In the first quarter of 2022, the number of tourists increased significantly in a series of provinces, such as Khanh Hoa (increased 55%), Phu Yen (increased 37%), Lam Dong (increased 48%), Ha Giang (increased 47%), Quang Ninh (increased 56%)... (Source: www.gso.gov.vn/du-lieu-va-so-lieu-thong-ke/2022/04/hoat-dong-du-lich-tai-nhieu-dia-phuong-khoi-sac-trong-quy-i-nam-2022). 

[11] http://donghanhviet.vn/news/492/393/Thuc-trang-du-lich-tiep-can-danh-cho-nguoi-khuyet-tat/d,news_detail_tpl 

[12] https://vhttdlbinhphuoc.gov.vn/news/hoat-dong-du-lich/chat-vat-lam-tour-du-lich-cho-nguoi-khuyet-tat-760.html 

[13] A few current projects providing accessibility information for persons with disabilities have taken the first step to build websites about accessible tourism. Source: http://www.vwu.vn/web/guest/tin-chi-tiet/-/chi-tiet/tao-hanh-trinh-du-lich-khong-rao-can-cho-nguoi-khuyet-tat-34782-4411.html 

[14] Dao Thanh Tung (TTXVN, Vietnam+, 2021), The achievements of the Vietnam Sports Association are higher than anticipated, https://www.vietnamplus.vn/thanh-tich-cua-doan-the-thao-paralympic-viet-nam-cao-hon-du-kien/738246.vnp, produced 03 September 2021. 

Trung Hung (2021), The Vietnamese team won a total of 40 medals at Asian Para Games 2018, https://nhandan.vn/nhip-song-the-thao/doan-viet-nam-gianh-tong-cong-40-huy-chuong-tai-asian-para-games-2018-337927, produced 14 October 2018. 

[15] Decree 152/2018/NĐ-CP on 07 November 2018 of the Government has regulated a number of practices for coaches and athletes during the time of training and competing.