Thais attitude to disabilty

[danbo]

Hi

Can anyone shed any light on the Thai peoples' attitude to people with physical and/or mental disabilities (sorry, can't remember the "PC" terms).  

I'm curious because both on TV and in "comedy" acts in Thai nightclubs a person with a disabilty is often presented and used as a comedic target because of their disability, e.g. midgets/dwarves, blind people, people with facial deformities (and possible mental health problems).  

I know in the UK the very idea of finding someone's disability "funny" would be seen in the worst taste.  We go to the opposite extreme and tip-toe around the subject - "we know you exist, and we feel sorry for you, we just don't want to see you".

So, I was wondering are the Thais laughing at "them" or with "them".  Also, what is the support system for someone with disabilities in Thai society, e.g. what support is there for a severely mentally ill (non self-supporting) person - is it up to the family (or street charity).

Best Wishes

Dan.

[bsross]

Hi,

I am an arm amputee, and have lived in Thailand for about 10 months.  I do not know anything about mental issues, but in my opinion Thai people are prett laid-back about physical problems.  I did not have many problems at all with extended stares.  I cannot say the same about Malaysia or Vietnam.

I did have an interesting experience at a job interview in Surat Thani.  When I applied for the job, I sent a picture but apparently the lady did not look at it.  Instead of telling me that I could not work there, she told my girlfriend...which made everything a bit more interesting.  The lady said that sometimes the children (age about 12-13yrs) would be a bit loud and would need to be disciplined.  Maybe she wanted to hear that I was plenty able to physcially abuse children  

If I was applying for a job, I'd definitely send a picture showing whatever the problem might be.  For social situations, once everyone knows who you are everything is fine.  I think being in a wheelchair would be quite a nightmare in the kingdom.

Bryan

[dougrobinson2024]

I think maybe they lean towards being a little intolerent of such things...  I know it wouldn't be fair to lump them all together, but I certainly have seen some things that I thought was pretty unacceptable, at least by current U.S. "P.C." standards.

One example: I remember seeing a midget woman walking down Walking Street in Pattaya and it seemed wherever she went, she was seen as entertainment; howled at and mocked by some of the Thai barkers there, even down to the limp she had.  I really felt bad for her since she definetly was not there for anyone's amusement.

Another example: my buddie's girlfriend was bored one Sunday afternoon in Bangkok and suggested that we all go down to the hospital to look at the deformed little babies.. as if that were some form of cheap entertainment.  We both tried to explain that gawking at birth defects was not a polite thing to do, but she couldn't seem to understand.

Again of course, I'm not saying the folks on Walking Street (barkers and bar girls) are representative of all Thai people, but I think I've seen a common thread in their behavior; one that I can't imagine seeing here in the U.S. as easily.

Doug

[D80]

Please forgive me if I use inappropriate words for disability or people with disability.  I will try to keep the words as neutral as poss but I don't know if my vocabs are up to date....

I agree that Thais' attitude towards disability is pretty poor and definitely should be improved.  It may have something to do with their belief in karma in some ways.  

I remembered when I was little, a teacher in a Thai school told us that people who are born with disability were paying for their karma/sin from their previous lives.  I didn't really believe a word she was saying but I have also heard the same statement by Thai people with disability themselves and the attitude of 'paying for their karma from the previous life' seems to help them cope somehow.

I think it's partly because we don't have enough facilities for disable people really.  So people with disability in Thailand don't really get to lead an ordinary life (there is no way anyone in a wheel chair can get on a Thai bus by themselves!  Even I have trouble climbing on!).  When I was at my old school in Thailand, there weren't any kids with disability, mental or physical.  There were separate schools for some of them.  I don't think that's the way forward though....

As for making fun or these people, it is totally unacceptable.  Usually a polite Thai would never dream of doing that.  

However, I still think making fun of disabilities is still there evrywhere, even in the west where the law/custom against it was pretty strong.  Take the example of midgets, they have been 'entertainers' in the west for years, in circus, TV programme, films etc etc.  Just look at the film Austin Power, would they still have 'mini me' as he is if he is not a midget?  People laugh because he is a 'mini me = a midget'.  I was quite surprise that was used as a joke there.  

There was also a tv programme in the UK (on ITV2) that uses a midget guy as an extra to make it more 'light hearted'.

Pretty sad really.

 

[andy50]

vertically challenged is the polite description

[wilson steer]

I don't think that disabled western tourists have much of a problem with stares or tasteless comments etc. Yet I have noticed that Thais who are disabled, or dwarfs get a hard time. I too have seen tiny Thais on Walking Street, Pattaya the subject of hilarious mirth.

I also note that there are some Thai magazines devoted to the subjects of deformity and the arcane physical shortcomings of men/women.

Anyone who watches the daily (Mon-Fri) show on Chong Sam (CH3) called Korn Bai Khlai Khread, (12.30 pm.) will know that human deformities make for amusement in this broadcast comedy.

I am not sure why this is so, but I feel that Buddhism is at the core. If you remember the Iranian twins who died recently during an operation to separate them, the reaction of Thais was the same, everywhere. Their response was, Buddah made them so, thus they should remain so.

[wolf5370]

Many TV, movie and stage comics are down syndrome affected. They often have a fairly high standing - being famous comics, wealthy and often have gorgeous wives to boot. Not that I am condoning it or anything, but they seem to have accepted their predicament and are actively using it to their advantage in these cases.

I think we must be carefull to confuse our westernised concepts of 'mocking the afflicted' with the completely separate Thai culture. Some - like the girl who wanted to go look at deformed babies, or those that point out and ridicule the midgets, are not perhaps following the same cultural line as those laughing at comics as above. Perhaps, these people could do with some councilling themselves - the west is not short of such people either. However, my wife, like most Thais, loves comedies - shows, films whatever. Thai comedies are very slapstick; this is their humour. When one of the down syndrome players enters the scene it is not the person nor the 'affliction' she laughes at, but the face they are intensionally pulling, the clothes they are wearing or whatever comical device they are employing. It is a fact that funny faces make people laugh, or at least helps that along that way, just catch an everning at the Comedy Club in London etc to see how the comics exagerate whatever they can to look 'funny' - silly hair, clothes, faces etc.

[Roger13]

I can see nothing wrong or sad if some people

chose to Laugh at a Midget / Down Syndrome

n a Circus /TV show where they have chosen

to be there for paid employment.

Ridiculing the very same persons if they then

are seen in Public places - like Walking Street -

that I find offensive.

Roger

[mowlem]

As a disabled person living in BKK, and also having spent two years working in Isaan, I can say the atttudes are the same all over Thailand.

There is a belief here of "bad kharma", but also there is "tamboon" to make merit, and krengjai to understand anothers needs (without asking).  I will be helped here far quicker than in Europe. I confuse Thais sense of kreng jai as they have not interacted much with disabled people much before. I find explaining exactly what I need, and using "because" at lot tends to put them at ease somewhat.

Staring, it is done in the UK, but in a different way.

Laughing, it is not the same. Laughter here often covers up stress, fear, embarrassment etc.

Remember until recently, disabled people were exempt from having ID cards. Fine, except no ID card, no vote, no job, no university place ......

Things are changing slowly, but they ARE changing.