Employment for the nation's physically and mentally challenged residents remains far from ideal, although improvements have been made in the areas of health coverage and education, a survey showed.
The results of a survey released on Friday conducted by academics at the commission of the Ministry of the Interior in October last year showed that the unemployment rate among physically and mentally challenged citizens stands at more than 10 percent, or about three times the national average.
The results of the survey were released by Wang Kuo-yu (王國羽), a professor at National Chung Cheng University's Department of Social Welfare.
Wang said employment has not significantly improved for the physically and mentally challenged in recent years despite government programs offering subsidies and job training programs.
He attributed the lack of progress to several factors, including an unwillingness among employers in established industries to hire disabled job seekers, difficult economic times, a lack of facilities for handicapped people and other structural problems.
Despite the lack of progress in finding employment opportunities, Wang said advances have been made in other areas, including health coverage and education.
For example, he said, all of Taiwan's 960,000 physically and mentally challenged people are now covered by the national health insurance system. The figure stood at just 92 percent in 2002.
In the area of education, government programs over the past decade have also significantly increased the number of physically and mentally challenged individuals entering college or university, Wang said.
He acknowledged, however, there was still room for improvement in education, with the survey showing that only 30 percent of mentally and physically challenged people in Taiwan have a high school diploma and their illiteracy rate is around 25 percent.
The average income of households with physically and mentally challenged members is also lower than the national average and about 30 percent of these families do not make enough money to cover their basic living expenses.
Only about 20,000 of the country's disabled citizens have an income above minimum wage, the survey found, indicating that many must rely on their families to make ends meet.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators