"There is no greater disability in life than the decision to surrender to fate", said famous motivational speaker Nick Vujicic, an inspiring man born without arms or legs. And this point of view has been applied in the business of Ms Nguyen Thi Thanh Thu, who won the first prize at a contest for startup ideas organized by the Women's Union of Ngu Hanh Son District, Da Nang  in 2020.

Ms Thu has continuously strived every single day to develop her chain of Thanh Thu bakeries. Photo: H.L

Ms Thanh Thu, residing in Hoa Hai Ward, Ngu Hanh Son District, currently runs her own business of a chain of six Thanh Thu Bakeries located along Le Van Hien Street.

Although her disabled legs have made Ms Thu face loads of difficulties in her daily life and sometimes wanted to give up, her father's advice always emerges in her mind whenever she has been most desperate.

"Even though your legs are disabled, you must always be healthy in your mind to be a useful person." Thanks to this advice from her beloved father, she has always encouraged herself to try so as not to become a burden for the family.

During days of the beginning of her own business, not only did she face thousands of hardships about cake recipes, colours, designs, development orientation, but she also put relentless efforts into building a chain of six bakeries.

Sometimes, despite some of her employees who are disabled, have been clumsy or made many batches of bad cakes, Ms Thu did not scold but wholeheartedly guide them again thanks to her love and understanding. From her perspective, disability is just an inconvenience, not a misfortune if you always try every day.

In the same vein, Mr Truong Tan Dung, a native of Dai Loc District, Quang Nam Province, has worked at the Da Nang Center supporting Agent Orange victims and vulnerable children in Thanh Khe District for 10 years now. He has become a brother, a friend, and an inspiration for children with disabilities here.

On the daily basis, Dung regularly moves in a wheelchair to a room arranged with a few small tables, where he guides the children here how to draw, sing, and dance from simple to difficult movements.

Not to mention, during special occasions such as Tet,  Mr Dung and hí students usually practice some musical performances to perform at the centre or contests organized by the Da Nang Association of People with Disabilities.

He smiled gently when asked about his dream and replied that his life is full of joy at the moment. He has always wished the children here to be happy, healthy and live their peaceful lives.

In addition to the optimism of Ms Thu and Dung, there are numerous beautiful stories about disabled people’s will to live, which touch many people’s admiration.

One of the typical stories is about a deaf and mute young man who was offered graciously VND 200,000 from a customer sitting in the middle of a coffee shop.

However, instead of happily accepting this gift, he decided to put 10 blisters of candy in the hand of the customer and thank him politely. Actually, the help of the kind customer is not wrong, but not really subtle since most disabled people want to be treated like normal people by society.

The young man's refusing help proves that he has been working every day to be able to raise himself so that he does not become a burden to his family and society.

Reporting  by HUYNH LE- Translating by T.VY