“Disabled” employment in Taiwan.

By Hsieh Pei-yu（謝珮瑜）

“Our government actually provides subsidies for disabled people but do they really kick in? The answer is not sure. The government has provided some assistive appliances for us. However, it will limit our career options. For example, if blind people set up a massage store, they will get the subsidy for their appliances. I’m also a blind person, but I opened a coffee shop with no subsidy from government,” said Lin Jia-jhen （林佳箴）.

“Most of the companies usually don’t  understand clearly different kinds of physical handicaps. However, every category of disabled persons may meet distinct situations. I think the companies are afraid of costing too much or causing troubles,” said Yang Yu-xing（楊玉欣）, a former legislator who is also physically challenged. In fact, if enterprises consider hiring disabled employees, the fees of installing barrier-free facilities would be paid by government. Look at the bright side, with an aging population, our government needs to advocate that employers should be more acceptable to disabled people in case of lacking human resources.