China
This page features the news on disability from China in the Debrief Library. See also news from other countries.
Contents
COVID-19
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Impact
What did disabled youths experience at the peak of infection?
(In Chinese, Jan, We are a minority)
6 disabled people share their covid experiences (In Chinese, Dec)
Response
Shanghai Covid lockdown: The struggle of blind massage therapists (Jul, BBC)
310,000 seniors living alone in Shanghai and young people who help them (in Chinese, Apr, QQ)
Civil Society and Community
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Today, I don't want to advocate "disability prevention", what about you? (Aug, translated by google) Minority Talk
Communication and Language
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Braille
New doors open for the visually impaired a feature on use of Braille in China. (Aug, China Daily)
Data and Research
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Overview
Report on disability data with a focus on employment. (In Chinese, Feb, JSTV)
Correlation between functional disability and quality of life among rural elderly in Anhui province,: a cross-sectional study. (Feb, BMC Public Health)
Research
Book review of Disability in Contemporary China. Tracing representations of disability from Mao to now. (Apr, Disability Studies Community Blog)
Digital Accessibility and Technology
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Artificial Intelligence
Good for tech: Disability expertise and labor in China's artificial intelligence sector (Feb, First Monday)
Social Media
Economics and Social Protection
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Overview
Disability inclusion key to rural revitalization. On how China's poverty alleviation measures supported persons with disabilities: “between 2014 and 2019, the registered number of persons with disabilities living in extreme poverty fell from 7.19 million to 479,000, and reached zero by 2021.” (Mar, China Daily)
Social Protection
The effect of a disability-targeted cash transfer program on universal health coverage and universal access to education: A nationwide cohort study of Chinese children and adolescents with disabilities. (Nov, The Lancet Regional Health)
Education and Childhood
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Discussion on Families We Need Erin Raffety's book on Disability, Abandonment, and Foster Care's Resistance in Contemporary China. (Podcast without transcript, Mar, New Books Network)
Employment, Business and Work
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Supported employment helps people with Down syndrome find jobs (Mar, Xinhua News)
History and Memorial
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Maoism and mental illness: psychiatric institutionalization during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. (Aug, History of Psychiatry)
Mental Health
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For people with mental health conditions finding work remains a challenge. (Oct, Sixth Tone)
Policy and Rights
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Draft law to improve accessible facilities under review. (Oct, China Daily)
Input to the UN Committee highlights areas of concern in consideration of the government’s compliance with its obligations under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. (Jul, Human Rights Watch)
Disability Inclusion in China an overview helpdesk report. "The disability movement in China has been disproportionately affected by the Charity Law and Overseas NGO Law, which have necessitated a move from advocacy towards service provision. " (link to pdf, Nov, SD Direct)
Sport and Paralympics
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Disabled Chinese Fight for Equal Rights Despite Paralympic Glory. (Mar, NYT) “Even China’s most decorated Paralympians have faced discrimination.” Sure, yes, as have decorated Paralympians in every other country?
Government paper on China's Parasports: Progress and the Protection of Rights. “The remarkable achievements of parasports in China reflect both the sportsmanship and sporting prowess of the disabled, and the progress China is making in human rights and national development.” (Mar, Xinhua)
China is a Paralympics star, but its people with disabilities face high hurdles (Feb, NPR)
The lowdown on on being disabled in China. With accompanying podcast:
“the perception of disability has changed a lot from my childhood. Now the group of people with disability is more diverse. So, some people are well educated and so they work for some big IT companies which are more open for us. And more importantly is that people with a disability can go outside to use the public transportation and also go shopping, and so the common people become more familiar with them. [...]”
“There were many public demonstrations before 2012, some of them legal, some of them illegal, and many of them broken up by the police. I remember there was a huge demonstration of wheelchair users in Anhui Province in about 2009 for various reasons, because people were being denied accessible homes. So, there was a big public movement at that time. And that’s all stopped. You do not see public activism or protest any longer in China. But what you do get is people working in much more subtle ways. ” (podcast, with transcript, Mar, BBC) (Mar, BBC)
China excels at the Paralympics, "but its disabled citizens are fighting for access. " Like many other countries doing well at the Paralympics, eh. (Jan, NPR)