The case of Thanakorn Kanthee, a social media influencer who died after downing a 350-millilitre bottle of whisky for 30,000 baht on a dare at a party in Chanthaburi on Wednesday, has sparked outrage over rights violations against people living with intellectual disabilities.
While justice has yet to prevail for Thanakorn, his case is one of many where people with intellectual disabilities are bullied, abused or even sexually harassed, highlighting the urgent need to protect their rights.
Advocate for rights
Pranee Nopphakao, 56, chairwoman of the Parents of Persons with Intelligence Disability Club in Nong Khai, is a single mother of three sons.
The youngest is now 21 years old but his learning ability is on the same level as that of a 10-year-old child, she said.
When he was younger, Ms Pranee's son went to school with children his age, she said. However, he was abused by his classmates and teachers for being different.
Some of his classmates forced him to drink water from a toilet, she said.
One teacher even wanted to force him to jump off the top of the highest staircase but a caretaker intervened before it happened, she said.
She decided to homeschool the youngster to prevent the possibility of him being bullied further, she said.
With love and understanding from family members, her youngest son has found his calling in digital intelligence and can live a normal life, she added.
Ms Pranee said she became an advocate for the rights of people with intellectual disabilities.
Based on her experiences, she found this group of people is often sexually harassed and they do not know how to fight for justice because they have limited communication ability or are forced into silence.
Ms Pranee raised the case of a 22-year-old rape victim as an example.
The perpetrator threatened the intellectually disabled victim not to tell anyone about the rape, otherwise she would be killed.
She obeyed the order and kept to herself until her parents noticed the abnormal silence. When her parents found out what happened to their daughter, they filed a case with the police but the victim could not describe the perpetrator.
In the end, a community leader told her parents to have their daughter lure the rapist to catch him red-handed, leading to his arrest, she said.
"Although the rapist was finally caught, it was unacceptable the parents treated their daughter as an object and allowed that man to 'finish his businesses' with her just to arrest the criminal," she said.
"It was dehumanising."
Barriers and solutions
Suchart Owatwannasakul, president of the Association of Parents of Persons with Intelligence Disability of Thailand, said discrimination against this group is often done by those close to them.
Their families often do not pursue a legal case because of threats and coercion, he said.
The problem is much more intense in the rural areas where people still have limited awareness of people with intellectual disabilities, he added.
"They often view people with disabilities as 'the toys of society' and often mistreat them for fun," he said, adding it is necessary to strengthen the legal mechanism to protect people with intellectual disabilities from discrimination.
At the same time, parents are advised not to hurt their children emotionally by calling them "retards" or "downies.
They are also advised not to shun the children from society or overprotect them from harm.
So, it is necessary to empower the parents of people with disabilities so that they can raise their children to live normally.
"As a father of a child with a disability, I can say that our lives are not a failure and it is not a result of bad karma [to have a child with an intellectual disability].
"We can raise our children to have bright futures like other children," he said.
Beware of friends
The Empowerment of People with Disabilities Department says that as of Oct 31, there were 2,175,815 people with disabilities in Thailand, accounting for 3.29% of the total population.
Among them, there were 162,747 people with mental or behavioural disability, 144,247 with intellectual disability, 16,890 with learning disability and 25,643 with autism.
Nataorn Indeesri, deputy general-director of the Empowerment of People with Disabilities Department, said the department received reports on discrimination against people with disabilities but some reports often did not classify the disability types.
Discrimination can range from verbal and physical abuse to bullying and sexual harassment.
Ms Nataorn said people with disabilities do not know when they are sexually harassed because they have limited cognition.
"The harassment may escalate if the victims are teenagers as their body starts to have sexual feelings due to their reproductive hormones.
"Teenagers are full of curiosity," she added.
To prevent sexual harassment, she said it is necessary to educate parents and guardians about what level of physical contact is considered harassment and how people with disabilities can protect themselves.
Parents and guardians need to provide a safe space so sexual harassment victims can freely tell about what happened to them.
They need to be aware and watch out for any abnormal behaviour, especially when the children are unusually quiet.
Ms Nataorn said schools are one of the places where bullying happens and it is often carried out by friends, teachers and even parents.
As such, schools must educate people about how to approach situations involving people with disabilities during meetings.
"Teachers need to be educated on how to manage bullying and how to protect these special needs students so that other children can study with students with intellectual disabilities," Ms Nataorn added.
Schools should be inclusive spaces that harness socialisation skills so schools should enrol these children to study among other children because it will help to harness socialisation skills on knowing how to interact with other people, she said.
"By segregating them from learning with other children will cut them off from learning life skills that they need to be independent. It also cuts them off from knowing what they are capable of," she added.
Empower parents
Ms Nataorn also said parents of children with mental and intellectual disabilities have the hardest time accepting the reality of their children because they believe their children are considered "inferior" when compared to others.
So, it is necessary to empower parents so they can believe in their children's potential as their potential can be unlocked through learning, she said.
Once they accept their children as what they are, parents should register the children with the authorities so that the children can receive the necessary support from the government, such as medical welfare, employment, education and socialisation.
Ms Nataorn added the Department of People with Disabilities Empowerment is always there to support people with disabilities.
"Children or people with this kind of disability have low registration with us because it requires a lengthy medical process to determine their disability so many parents give up along the process," she said.
"We need to empower parents to let their children register, which will help them gain access to welfare and protection, leading them to be stronger in the future."