Since arriving in Phnom Penh in May 2008 it has become more than apparent to me that progress is happening more quickly for some people post-conflict than it is for many people with disabilities. There are many determining factors as to why and how some people are progressing faster then others in the new Cambodia and persons with disabilities are currently facing more challenges to keep up with the pace of change.
One area where we believe great strides can be made is in education. Firstly for the individual’s self esteem; and secondly of course, education increases that person’s employment prospects, especially as the Cambodian workplace develops and becomes more competitive with individuals requiring more qualifications. The other benefits from having persons with disabilities progressing within education and the workplace, is that it breaks down barriers of negative perceptions and promotes a more positive image of persons with disabilities in the minds of others.
As I can attest from my own experience, when children grow up with a classmate who has a disability, it often becomes a natural thing which causes neither party any embarrassment. In my view as much as my own experience, nothing breaks down stigma and discrimination more than bringing people together. In Cambodia, much work is being done to educate children with disabilities within the mainstream education system and the general consensus of all is that this is a key initiative to removing discrimination on the grounds of disability.
Over the last few years we have supported around 350 children with disabilities into school each year. Some of course do experience discrimination, which we work to eradicate, but over the last year or so we decided the need was to take the education of people with disabilities to the next level and to start getting them into university education.
Rationale
Whether you are a person with a disability in the UK or Cambodia, there is a belief that there is a ‘glass ceiling’ blocking your progress for a whole myriad of reasons. Some barriers cannot be overcome, but in the new post-conflict Cambodia, a lack of university education is one reason why persons with disabilities are struggling to keep pace and struggling to get into blue collar employment positions.
I would respectfully suggest that the valuable work in mainstreaming disability in education comes to a grinding halt at grade 12 in Cambodia; and that more attention needs to be paid to enabling people with disabilities to access higher education and employment opportunities. The harsh fact of the matter is that persons with disabilities are struggling to get into better paid and higher status employment positions anywhere in the world and so in the first instance, there is a need to start getting young persons with disabilities to become graduates with disabilities.
The next challenge will be to get our clients into suitable employment and thereby encourage greater integration in the workplace. Just as with the breaking down of negative perceptions and discrimination in education, our hope is that, in time, prejudices in the workplace will similarly start to dissipate as persons with disabilities begin to become colleagues in the eyes of workmates without disabilities. However, that is a phase in our programme which is a few years away.
There is also another advantage: if we can assist significant numbers of persons with disabilities to become graduates, they will in turn become role models amongst for other Cambodians with disabilities.
The Program
We have formed a partnership with our long-time supporters, the Nippon Foundation. The Foundation’s personnel share our same vision: educational achievement for persons with disabilities is a valuable way to break down negative perceptions within society as well as allowing individuals to reach their full potential.
Our plan is to recruit 40 persons with disabilities over the course of the next three years and support them through university towards graduation and hopefully beyond. In addition to paying for their tuition fees and living costs, this project will also provide mentoring support and employment advice. To that end, we are hoping to work with local businesses to offer the university students some form of internships so that their CVs will have the benefit of some work experience.
However, having discussed this at length with the Nippon Foundation, in return for all the support we are getting, we quite unashamedly want something back from our clients over and above a commitment to work hard with their studies. Firstly we would also like to see our clients commit to undertaking an internship with an NGO in the disability sector during one summer break. We have also sought to make our clients aware that they have a responsibility to other persons with disability to “put something back” in a manner they feel able to offer. This could be speaking to groups of children with disabilities at school, mentoring other students with disabilities, or helping an organisation in their spare time post-graduation, for example.
This we feel is an important aspect in achieving the goal of getting persons with disabilities to take more initiative and control of the disability issue within Cambodia.
2009 intake
Having initially trawled through our own list of clients taking their grade 12 examinations earlier this year, we set up meetings with eight of them to discuss going to university.
One thing we found was that our clients had never contemplated the prospect of higher education due to the costs; or never thought it was an option that would be open to them. As we look towards next year’s intake we can see that we will need to undertake some sessions with clients to show that if they have the ability, if they want to go, then we can help them achieve their goals.
That in itself is another issue that we are going to have to address. For many young persons with disabilities, their aspirations and dreams are somewhat narrow in comparison to non-disabled young people. In my view, we are going to have work on increasing confidence in clients so that they believe they are worthy of going to university in the first place, as much as we will need to provide support whilst they are there.
Alas, of the first tranche of clients, only two applications progressed further as sadly the others failed their grade 12 exams. One of the clients actually wanted to become a prosthetist and has enrolled with CSPO. The other, Ms Sreyna, has now enrolled at the Royal University of Law and Economics (‘RULE’) in Phnom Penh to undertake a law degree.
We were aiming for ten undergraduates with disabilities and approached a number of partner organisations inviting them to put forward their clients. Veterans International also runs a program getting children into school in Prey Veng near the Vietnamese border and remarkably, they had nine clients who had successfully sat their grade 12 exams. My colleague Chin Da and I went to meet them all to discuss the university program with them and hopefully, sign them all up.
It was clear that they were eager and in many respects, could not believe their luck. Our partners at VI had to work extremely hard to get them into Chea Sim university and all had to sit an entrance exam and I am pleased to say that they all passed and are now studying a variety of courses from accountancy to rural development.
Finally, a month before the academic year started, two clients came to light that we had not been aware of and we enrolled Mr Boreth and Ms Sukonmony into RULE. Indeed, for Mr Boreth who has severe mobility difficulties, we did a site inspection and met both vice rectors of the university who were extremely enthusiastic about helping students with disabilities to study at their university.
We now have twelve undergraduate clients studying for degrees and thus far, a month into their studies, all is going well.
The next step
We are very fortunate to have Ms Sgon Kanika currently working with us as a consultant. Kanika is a respected member of the Cambodian disability community who has recently returned from completing a Master’s degree in America.
Getting the 2009 intake in has been quite a challenge as both the Cambodia Trust and the Nippon Foundation have been working to tight deadlines all the way. Kanika and I have now started to plan out for next year with the advantage of this year behind us; we have already started to approach partner organisations with a view to gathering undergraduates with disabilities for next year.
But as I was discussing matters with the vice-rectors at RULE, they indicated that they have very few applications from students with disabilities and so making adjustments for them is not something they have had to consider up to now. Consequently, this has led us to wonder what the position is for students with disabilities in Cambodia and we are looking to undertake some research in 2010 as well as considering how we can work with universities to make sites more disability friendly.
The timing may just be right as both the relatively recent Education and Disability Laws have been passed by the Cambodian legislature and both aim to facilitate persons with disabilities to be able to partake at all levels of education in Cambodia.
Over the course of the next few years, we will keep you informed of developments and the outcomes.
John Honney, Disability Rights Adviser
Phnom Penh, 16 November 2009
