News

2007.1214

Handicapped People Deserve Respect and Equal Job Opportunities, Educators Say

By Joanna Tung Campus Reporter Government labor officials and National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) professors tried to figure out more potential assistance toward handicapped people, especially those with mental disorder, during a workshop at the main campus this morning. "We want to provide sufficient help toward handicapped people with different needs and get them hired eventually,” said Guo Cheng-chang (郭振昌), deputy director for the Council of Labor Affairs’ Bureau of Employment and Vocational Training. Guo made his remarks during the workshop, which was sponsored by the Taiwan Vocational Rehabilitation Association (台灣職業重建專業協會).  He said that to establish branches of this association at every city and county in the country is the end goal for the government because staff members of the association are all well-trained and educated in helping handicapped people become potential candidates for various job vacancies, which would open to handicapped people. Chiu Man-yan (邱滿豔), professor for NTNU’s Graduate Institute of Rehabilitation Counseling, said that in addition to helping handicapped people, the public must be educated as well. "How many of them (handicapped people) can be accepted, respected and admitted to an equal opportunity job?” Chiu said.  “Treating everybody equally is the most important thing to be established and, therefore, a lot of education work should be done.” NTNU President Gou Yih-shun (郭義雄) mentioned that some younger teachers at NTNU would try to avoid handicapped students but he said that senior staff on the campus have been trying to encourage their younger counterparts to take the challenges. "Training qualified teachers for all kinds of students is what we are good at and what we do here,” he said. The president said that many departments have accepted handicapped students with various kinds of disabilities.  For instance, the Graduate Institute of Sports and Leisure Management also accepted the admission from a handicapped student as well. "Each handicapped child is just like an angel with broken wings, who needs additional attention with love,” the president said.