People with disabilities pose a dual challenge to society. Development depends on, among other things,human resources. It is in the interest of a society that its people with disabilities have the best physical,psychological, and intellectual conditions possible so that their ability to contribute to development is maximized.Also, measures should also be taken to ensure that people with disabilities enjoy the benefits of development,broadly expressed as improvement in quality of life. Vocational training is one means by which people gain skills that allow them to contribute to development.By working, people with vocational skills should be able to make efforts to improve their quality of life. It is,therefore, of interest to consider vocational training programs for people with disabilities. The idea ofempowerment is also of interest because research suggests that it plays a role in both the success of vocationaltraining for people with disabilities and the quality of life of people with disabilities. Given this context, the present study has three objectives: (1) to compare and contrast vocational trainingservices for people with disabilities provided by public and private organizations in Thailand

(2) to examinethe extent to which the activities of these vocational training organizations potentially contribute toempowerment and quality of life of people with disabilities

and (3) to devise policy recommendationsconcerning the management of Thailand's state-owned vocational rehabilitation training centers. This study employed qualitative research methodology to examine the operation of Yard Fon VocationalRehabilitation Center in Chiang Mai Province, which is supervised by the Ministry of Social Development andHuman Security, and the private sector Redemptorist Vocational School for the Disabled in Chon BuriProvince. Participant observation and interviews with staff, trainees, and graduates of the two institutionswere used to form a picture what services were offered, how those services were delivered, and how peoplewith disabilities were affected by the training. From the research results, it is justified to conclude that the vocational training services of both institutionsled to improvement in the graduates' quality of life. By Western assessment guidelines, neither center exhibitedstrong empowerment mechanisms, although the Redemptorist School for the Disabled had a higher level ofempowerment practice than did Yard Fon Vocational Rehabilitation Training Center. Both centers shared some"charity-based" service characteristics that could be considered disempowering. Nevertheless, trainees of bothcenters reported feelings consistent with being empowered, and their quality of life generally appeared better,objectively and subjectively, after graduation than before the training. Results suggested that public and private training centers could improve their performance by systematicallyrecognizing and supporting the empowerment of people with disabilities. State-operated vocational trainingcenters could take several measures to improve the effectiveness of their services and increase empowermentpractice. The training centers' goal-specifically provision of just basic social skill or vocational training-shouldbe defined more clearly. Existing centrally-devised training programs should be redesigned to better reflectlabor market demand and address the needs of people with disabilities. If the centers are to continue to focuson vocational training, graduates must leave equipped with a higher degree of professional competence. A betterpost-graduation job-placement and ongoing support mechanism is also needed. More generally, the governmentshould also improve the basic education of people with disabilities so they have a foundation for vocationaltraining. Ongoing professional development for rehabilitation personnel would be advantageous, andrehabilitation personnel should change their attitudes towards disabled trainees by adopting the empowermentapproach. Finally, service provision by people with disabilities, in other words having disabled staff members,could significantly enhance the empowerment of people with disabilities.