US Department of States Country Report on Human Rights 2006, Taiwan

The law prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities and sets minimum fines for violations. Through September there were 969,000 persons identified as having mental or physical disabilities.


The law stipulates that the government must provide services and programs to the disabled population. Free universal medical care was provided to persons with disabilities. NGOs continued to note that more public nursing homes were needed and current programs, such as home care services, needed to be expanded to meet the growing needs of the disabled population, including the growing numbers of elderly persons.

The law requires all private enterprises with more than 100 employees to hire at least one disabled person per 100 workers. For all government offices, public schools, and public enterprises with 50 or more employees, disabled employees must comprise at least 2 percent of their total workforce. For each unmet quota position, both public and private organizations are required to pay into the Disabled Welfare Fund (DWF) an amount equal to one basic monthly salary or approximately $500 (NT$15,840). As of September persons with disabilities constituted approximately 2 percent of the public sector workforce.

The law provides monetary assistance for up to five years, and additional support through other programs, for those with occupational injuries. NGOs maintained that the government needed to extend the current five-year limit and liberalize the qualifications for assistance.

By law, new public buildings, facilities, and transportation equipment must be accessible to persons with disabilities, and this requirement was generally met. Violations resulted in fines of $1,800 to $9,100 (NT$60,000 to $300,000). The MOI guided local government efforts to budget for, develop, and implement refitting guidelines. Handicap-accessible public transportation, although limited to larger cities, increased to 224 special vehicles, including 32 low-chassis buses. Additional handicap-priority seating was installed in 233 buses. Five hundred buses were equipped with new handrails and 460 were equipped with anti skid flooring. NGOs stated that more vehicles were needed to accommodate demand.

Source：
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2006/78770.htm