Full Futures For All

IHDD works with Vietnam to include people with disabilities in schools and vocational programs so there can truly be "Full Futures for All."

FULL FUTURES FOR ALL is both the name and the goal of a collaboration between IHDD and Centre for Research and Development of Community Health (RDH) in Hanoi, Vietnam. Vietnamese systems have traditionally served only those with less severe disabilities. "Full Futures for All" will design a service-learning exchange to support Vietnam’s plans for full inclusion of people with disabilities in its public schools and employment programs.

Under a seed grant from UGA’s International Development Education Awards, Jenny Manders and Gwen O'Looney visited Vietnam in April 2006 to get a full understanding of Vietnamese needs, wants and culture. A packed itinerary began with meeting leaders of Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health and Vietnam Blind Association and featured visits in local schools, homes of self-employed agent orange victims, and employment programs. “We saw challenges and successes much like those in America,” said Manders.

Most rewarding was the excitement over the early intervention strategies and strengths-based approach of Take a Look at Me™. 650 copies of a Vietnamese translation were presented to local schools. One principal immediately saw it as a tool for generating greater parental involvement and said, “My teachers have the intent in their hearts, but lack the information and training.” Vietnamese doctors in the Ministry of Health appreciated flyers on brain development sponsored by UGA’s College of Family & Consumer Sciences Better Brains for Babies program at Cooperative Extension.

A proposal to World Bank has already outlined how IHDD would assist in the development of distance learning programs for teachers in rural areas. But our first goal remains making "Full Futures for All" an international service-learning exchange for Vietnamese and UGA students from IHDD, Family & Consumer Sciences, Social Work and Public Health.