According to the Royal Thai Government, as of 2015, 2.17 per cent of the total population of Thailand live with a disability. In 2007, the Royal Thai Government passed the Persons with Disabilities Quality of Life Promotion Act, which stipulates that the State must provide cash transfers for persons with disabilities. Thailand's resulting disability allowance is administered by the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security in cooperation with the National Office of Promotion and Development of Life Quality of Disabled Persons.

Thailand's disability allowance is an unconditional cash transfer that targets all registered persons with disabilities. All citizens, regardless of age, who are registered as a person with disabilities, are entitled to receive a transfer of THB500, or USD14, per month. In 2010 more than 440,000 persons with disabilities received the allowance. Persons with disabilities over the age of 60 are also eligible to receive Thailand's universal old age allowance of THB500, in addition to the disability allowance, for a total of THB 1,000, or USD28 per month. The main objective of the allowances is to supplement daily living costs in an effort to end poverty and hunger. Furthermore, in 2009, the Ministry of Education introduced free compulsory primary education and university level education for all registered persons with disabilities, through the Regulation on the Promotion of Education for Persons with Disabilities. The scheme also provides students with specialised services, including sign-language interpretation, educational equipment and assistive devices, which had increased educational attendance up to 68 per cent among persons with disabilities by 2010.

Together these schemes provide access to income support and education for all registered persons with disabilities in Thailand, and thus, form part of a comprehensive social protection floor that is inclusive of the specific needs of persons with disabilities. While Thailand's disability schemes have achieved great success, challenges remain in adjusting the level of benefits to meet the nationally defined minimum income threshold. Nonetheless, these investments in the protection for all registered persons with disabilities in Thailand represent a strong State commitment to uphold the rights of persons with disabilities.

Further reading:

• The Royal Thai Government Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2011) Thailand’s status with regard to the convention on the rights of persons with disabilities, CRPD and the realization of the MDGs for persons with disabilities. Accessed from: http://www.mfa.go.th/humanrights/implementation-of-un-resolutions/136-thailands-status-with-regard-to-the-convention-on-the-rights-of-persons-with-disabilities-crpd-and-the-realization-of-the-mdgs-for-persons-with-disabilities on February 18 2016. 
• The International Labour Organization, Thailand 's status with regards to a comprehensive factsheet on "Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Thailand." Accessed from  http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@ed_emp/@ifp_skills/documents/publication/wcms_112307.pdf on December 2016.