Hán Văn Thư works at the Phước Hữu Commune’s People’s Committee. It took him five years to find a job because of his disability. VNA/VNS Photo

NINH THUẬN — Hán Văn Thư refuses point blank to let his disability stop him from succeeding.

The 41-year-old Chăm 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 Phước Hữu Commune in central Ninh Thuận Province, disability means a low quality of life.

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

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

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

After finishing the course in 2005, Thư 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 Phước Hữu 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 Phước 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.

Thư 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, Đổng Thị Hương Giang.

Thư 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 Thư’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 Phước Hữu Commune’s People’s Committee Hứa Thị Ngọc Du said Thư was a self-confident employee with high learning spirit. 

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