Firstly, the delegation visited the Vietnam Office of Genetic Counseling and Disabled Children belonging to Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy and listened to a speech on disability.  Through the presentation of Assoc. Prof. Nguyen Viet Nhan – leader of the office and Dean of the Genetics Faculty, all students gained a general understanding of the office and of counseling activities and assistance for the disabled in Thua Thien Hue province particularly, and Vietnam generally; support from government and non-government organizations at home and abroad; and disability in Vietnam compared with that in developed nations.  

Next, the delegation interviewed a person living with disability —  the leader of Hope Center, where vocational training in the garment industry, fine arts and knitting is provided for the disabled in central Vietnam. At the Hope Center, we observed how teachers carry out on-the-job training for people with all types of disabilities, and how the trainees work on the production line. It has taken a great effort from the centre’s leaders to set up a firm trade mark for the disabled via which they can supply stable jobs and useful, independent lives for them. 

Future School where we implemented a focus group discussion with six disabled children was the third placement for the QUT students. The discussion was very challenging because the children had many types of disability with different levels of awareness. However, this was a specific example for the students to experience the difficulties associated with the support and socialization of the disabled.  

In addition, the students spent two days implementing transect walks on the main streets with public buildings such as markets, supermarkets, hospitals, bookstores, schools,  religious areas (e.g. pagodas, churches), and entertainment spaces (e.g. stadiums, culture hours, cinemas). The transect walk was a rather new technique for the Vietnamese students who participated. The group was divided into three subgroups supported by six Vietnamese students. They carried out transect walks on Trần Hưng Đạo, Lê Lợi,  Lê Quý Đôn-Hùng Vương and Nguyễn Huệ streets. During this process, the students observed, took notes, took pictures of building, and used an audit tool to assess the accessible ways for people living with a disability. This allowed them to understand more about public behavior and helped them to evaluate the accessibility of the environment for people with a disability. 

One of placement activities which gave students a comprehensive understanding about the concept of disability in the context of culture and religion was a visit to Duc Son Pagoda. The pagoda was providing rehabilitation for six disabled chirdren and training for others. Almost all of them were abandoned by their own parents and lived in the pagoda, receiving charity from Buddhists and philanthropists. Students interviewed a teacher and a monk leader about activities that were undertaken for the children. 

To provide an overall picture of disability in Hue, we took the QUT students to two Commune Health Stations in the suburbs of Hue city: Thuy Bieu and Thuy Phuong districts. After observing the staff in these stations examine and treat people using common medical equipments, students asked the head doctors many questions about the equipments and the methods of taking care of people with disability, as well as about  assistance policies from the government and non-government organizations. To our surprise, in the small district of Thuy Bieu, there were two schools for the disabled managed by a pagoda and a church. We visited the one supported by Long Tho Pagoda. The disabled children were not shy to strangers, and they talked and took pictures with the Australian students. Besides rehabilitation classes, equipment and of the range of school activities introduced by a staff member, we experienced older children feeding and caring for younger ones in the school canteen. After saying good bye to the children, the students conducted a transect walk in Thuy Bieu district to compare the support available to the disabled between rural and urban areas. 

After the first stage of the practicum, the QUT students gave a successful presentation and exchanged their exciting experience with young HUMP staff and public health students.
Stage 2: The student majoring in Social Work visited the Nursing and Rehabilitation Hospital of Thua Thien Hue province. We had the opportunity to observe technicians helping children with motor rehabilitation exercises. For many types of disability, while technicians were carrying out motor rehabilitation exercises, they gave explanations, instructions to the children’s relatives and corrected any mistakes so that after leaving the hospital they could continue the exercises and promote quick recovery. Almost all of the families had spent a long time undertaking this process and had become acquainted with one another. Through conversations with them, we learnt well about the patience, conscientiousness and responsibility that the technicians showed towards the difficult rehabilitation process. Then, we visited a speech class for  autistic children and advanced children from the motor rehabilitation classes. As these were one-to-one classes, the children could not focus on the lesson when we were present so we had to remain at a distance and listen to them silently. While waiting for the director of the hospital, we had a good chance to talk with families of patients. Although each had different personal situations, they all shared the financial difficulty of pursuing rehabilitation for their disabled relatives. Many of them were living far from Hue city and therefore they had to stay for at least three months in the hospital and spend that whole time on rehabilitation.

Our overview of rehabilitation and treatment for children with disability became clearer after we interviewed the director of the hospital and a local resident. All staff in the hospital described the difficulties of their jobs and devotion to the recovery of patients. They commented that local residents still had only a vague understanding of the concept of disability while the family members of a person with a disability had a better understanding of disability. From 2010, the Vietnam government ratified a law for the disabled; thanks to this, many policies in various fields of society have helped the disabled to be better cared for, rehabilitated and integrated into society. However, it is necessary to have the contribution of the whole society, government, non-government organizations at home and abroad to continue improving the social integration of people with disabilities. 

At the end of the practicum, the QUT students expressed their joy and gratitute for their time in Vietnam. They said they felt so lucky to have had the chance to be here in order to understand disability in Vietnam particularly and developing nations more generally. For the HUMP public health students, they exchanged knowledge and culture with the QUT students,  including new research techniques such as the transect walk, while simultaneously enhancing their English communication skills and team working skills.