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V. Training and Retraining of Disabled Persons 22. Although it is recognized that the technical and vocational training and retraining of disabled persons will of necessity make fairly slow progress in the countries of the region because of the shortage of resources and practical facilities, it is recommended to Governments that the following principles should he taken into account in the development of technical and vocational training of disabled persons : (1) The principle that disabled persons should have an opportunity to engage in useful and suitable employment should be recognized. (2) The problem of the vocational training of disabled persons should be approached positively — i.e., stress should be placed on the aptitudes and capacities of the persons concerned rather than on their disabilities. (3) Where the disability of a person is no bar to his being trained alongside ablebodied persons, there should be no distinction between disabled and ablebodied persons, and training should be given to all under the same conditions and with use of the same facilities. (4) Special attention should be paid to training in handicrafts, which are best suited to the conditions now prevailing in the Asian countries. (5) Medical supervision of disabled persons should be ensured during their training and a system of placement and follow-up organized. (6) The organization of technical and vocational training of disabled persons should in each country be entrusted to a single authority working in co-operation with other interested authorities and organizations. (7) A committee composed of representatives of the competent authorities, of employers' and workers' organizations and of other bodies concerned should be set up in each country of the region to study this subject and to examine the possibilities of putting into practice a policy for the technical and vocational training of disabled persons. 23. The following measures are recommended as the first steps to be taken in this field : (1) The establishment of machinery comprising medical and employment service experts for assessing the capacity of the individual disabled person and advising him in the selection of an occupation which he should follow or for which he should be trained. (2) The establishment, in countries in which such centres do not yet exist, of one or more experimental centres for the technical and vocational training of more severely disabled persons under sheltered conditions. (3) Training of a staff of specialized instructors. VI. Methods of International Collaboration 24. (1) International documentation concerning vocational and technical training should be collected by the International Labour Office and made available to the countries of Asia. (2) Such documentation should be of an essentially practical character and should in particular include — (a) Handbooks, training manuals and programmes, lesson sheets and trade tests ; (b) Standard lists of technical and instructional equipment, including blueprints for the manufacture of small machine tools for handicrafts ; (c) Films and film strips prepared specially for technical and vocational training ; (d) Information relating to vocational guidance and in particular to the use of psychotechnical aptitude tests.

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