Han Van Thu works at the Phuoc Huu Commune’s People’s Committee. It took him five years to find a job because of his disability.

The 41-year-old Cham ethnic minority man has suffered from paralysis since he was a small child. His legs can no longer move after he had a serious illness. 

He found it hard to do simple things and has had to depend on his family members since he was three years old.

In a small and rural village in Phuoc Huu Commune in central Ninh Thuan Province, disability means a low quality of life.

But Thu refused to accept this way of life and wanted to do all he could to grow up as normal as possible.

Although he never attended school, he taught himself the basic skills needed to be able to read and write.

At the age of ten, Thu realised that he needed more and told his parents that he wanted to go to school. 

Things were not easy. None of local schools accepted the student because of his weak health, and he was too old to sit the basic exams. 

But Thu refused to give up. He kept asking his parents to find school that would take him. Four years later, he was accepted by Huu Duc Primary School. 

He started his first academic year with nine-year-old students even though he was 14 years old himself.

Thu completed the high school programme and took an administrative and legal course in central Quang Nam Province.

After finishing the course in 2005, Thu returned to his hometown and began looking for a job but struggled as nobody wanted to hire a person with disabilities.

It took him five years to get a job at the Phuoc Huu Commune’s People’s Committee. He was in charge of broadcasting news and new policies and law for local people, writing for the electric portal of Ninh Phuoc District’s People’s Committee.

“I’m so lucky, much luckier than many others in the same situation,” he said.

“Now I have a job, a salary and have support from families and friends,” he said.

Thu became the first disabled person to work for a governmental authority in his hometown. He also succeeded in leading a happy life with his partner, Dong Thi Huong Giang.

Thu said they fell in love in 2012, but the relationship was frowned upon by Giang’s family. Eventually he won them over and began to build for a better life.

His partner said: “I was touched by Thu’s strong will to overcome difficulties in life. I ignored all the bias over him and decided to live with him in 2012. Now we have a happy life. Our daughter has turned six and started going to school.”

Vice chairwoman of Phuoc Huu Commune’s People’s Committee Hua Thi Ngoc Du said Thu was a self-confident employee with high learning spirit. 

Thu was obviously an example of disabled person striving to have a better life, she said.  VNS 

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