Disability in China

Interesting side note. I've been in Hong Kong the past two days. 2 minutes after leaving the hotel to grab some chow, I passed a nicish hotel that had outside stairs. One of the bellhops was using a wheelchair equipped with a stair climber. He was coming down to pick somebody up.

In the last two days, I've also seen:

- a store selling various wheelchairs, walking canes, etc

- a bus lowing itself and extending a ramp for a passenger in a chair

- the subway station closest to me has wall mounted bars that are used like a railway for an electronic device that allow disabled people and/or wheelchairs to go up and down the stairs

- also many people who are very visably handicapped (not trying to ridicule, just pointing out more than a simple impairment) All of them out and about with friends, often more than 1

This equates to 10 times more than what I see on the mainland. And like I mentioned, in only 2 days!

Interesting side note. I've been in Hong Kong the past two days. 2 minutes after leaving the hotel to grab some chow, I passed a nicish hotel that had outside stairs. One of the bellhops was using a wheelchair equipped with a stair climber. He was coming down to pick somebody up.

In the last two days, I've also seen:

- a store selling various wheelchairs, walking canes, etc

- a bus lowing itself and extending a ramp for a passenger in a chair

- the subway station closest to me has wall mounted bars that are used like a railway for an electronic device that allow disabled people and/or wheelchairs to go up and down the stairs

- also many people who are very visably handicapped (not trying to ridicule, just pointing out more than a simple impairment) All of them out and about with friends, often more than 1

This equates to 10 times more than what I see on the mainland. And like I mentioned, in only 2 days!

I'm pretty sure that such things will happen when Beijing or Shanghai gets to an inflation adjusted GDPPC of $50,000 a year.

I saw a Downs Syndrome kid in Shanghai over the weekend and it made me think of this thread.

Where are all the Downs kids in China? In Dublin, in the suburbs, they are a part of everyday life, working in local shops and going to local schools. I used to work with Downs kids in my summer holidays back in uni way way long ago.

Where are they all in China, or do I not want to know?? 

I used to work with Special Olympics, but I don't see them here.

In Guangzhou there is a one foot wide bumpy tile running down the length of every sidewalk to help blind people navigate, but in 8 years I've only seen two. One was a foreigner and neither were fully blind. It's difficult to imagine a blind person walking around in GZ alone for more than a few minutes and surviving.

No one would help such a person because, "It could be a trap! It happened before in blah, blah, blah...."

Years ago in Changchun, I was having lunch with some students. Outside there was an elderly man. I don't remember if it was his hand or foot, but he was obviously crippled. As I was giving him some money, one student tried to stop me. All the students said the old man probably cut off the limb himself.

I asked them if that means he is not allowed to eat anymore. I said that might be true, but I still don't care. We had a discussion as a group as to whether you are abetting those people who self-mutilate. I told them I'm not their judge and I hope they will never need to be in this position.

They all came from wealthy families. I think I reached some to a small degree, but I doubt they will all agree



Another time back in Toronto, a middle aged begger (but not disabled) asked for money. I offered him some fruit as I just returned from shopping. He declined, he wanted cash. I said sorry, I won't fuel his drinking, but I will try to help in other ways. I was a little surprised he declined. Most beggers get this from me, I would have thought they'd all say yes



It might be a bit off topic, but it might show why some folks are put off by helping others because it could ba a scam
 

Well in China, there were some fairly well publicized cases where good samaritans helped people out and were later sued and accused of harming the people they were trying to help. About a year or so ago this got a lot of attention, with the whole thing coming to a head when that poor toddler was run over by several cars about close to 20 people walked by and didn't stop to help. So there's that, and probably what your students were talking about saying it could be a scam, like the poor old blind guy might deliberately fall down while you are walking him across the road and accuse you of pushing him or something.

As for the raised parts on the sidewalk for the blind, there are pretty much everywhere in Beijing. There's wheelchair access for most of the subway stations too, and I've actually seen them in action before, so they aren't just there for decoration. But, like I mentioned, Beijing hosted the Paralympics back in 2008 and basically had to make sure the city was equipped to handle a large number of disabled people, or lose massive face.

The toddler in Foshan was lying there for a few hours in the middle of the day in a busy intersection. Hundreds or probably thousands passed her by, and they probably didn't see her with self-induced tunnel vision.

About the beggars, I've been back and forth on this my whole time in China. Sometimes I give, sometimes I don't. There's no rule that seems to make any sense. The only time I never give is when they are aggressive toward me.

Better to give and be wrong than not give and be right.

Better to give and be wrong than not give and be right.

I like that.

In my time here, I've seen some odd shaped people. There was a lady who had a hunch back and stumps for legs. She basically sat like Jubba the Hut. Seriously, I'm not trying to marginalise her, just painting a picture. She also had a kid. As a street begger, she had very little else to do. We often gave.

I saw a man who was completely doubled over. His face was against his shins and he had to use a mirror to speak to people. Since he couldn't stand, he couldn't see the faces of those around him.

Sadly, I don't think there's a lot the gov't does for physical and mental handicapped people. So much for socialism. I guess these guys don't contribute to society or add to the gov't coffers, why spend a buck to help them

Ha, ha, ha, Chinese socialism/communism. Oh, boy!

Anyway, you do see so many physical handicaps in China that are pretty much nonexistent in Western countries. I suspect a lot of these things are childhood deformities and problems that aren't too tough to cure before they become serious, but you at least need basic medical care for that. I really did take stuff like that for granted before moving to China.

Considering Guangdong is just about the richest place in the world, it's tough to find evidence of wealth in many places. We all know how things are.

A 30-something business man from Sweden told me that more Chinese people approve of their government than most other countries. I can't remember the exact stats. I told him they don't even know how to measure it. We were sitting in the newest, poshest part of Guangzhou, so he said, "Look at all this. Don't you think they're doing well?"

I thought he was being sort of selective. Most of GZ still looks like there was a war a long time ago that forced people away, the buildings rotted for a decade or two, then people came back and had another war. I just don't know how to describe it.

You wonder just how much of the "disability" in China then really comes from untreated medical conditions. I know that a lot of people are sick and can't afford medical care. However, there's just not enough in the way of resources and cash to help everyone out I suppose.

Unless of course the Celebrants decide to go without Maotai for a short while or something. But that'd be too much of a sacrifice to make, wouldn't it?

A 30-something business man from Sweden told me that more Chinese people approve of their government than most other countries.

He must have read it in People's Daily.

Went to meet an American friend and the Swede was there. The Swede was very knowledgeable and did a lot of statistics work, could calculate, etc., but I still think he accepted a bogus premise.

We got on well after he quizzed me on American politics. He asked me what the incumbency rate is for the US Congress and he had what I'm pretty sure was the 2006 number of 96%, which is probably higher than anything in N. Korea or the USSR. Seriously, it's way past banana republic numbers. He said I was the first American he ever met who knew that, which is not surprising.

Still, I think people accepting the legitimacy of their own government can sometimes be a useful stat, but could simply mean that govt was good at fooling people. Anyway, I don't meet too many Chinese who are satisfied with their govt.

As usual Wikipedia is good for a general introduction to the topic:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Disabled_Persons'_Federation

It would be good if someone could summarise the main points from this site:

 http://www.cdpf.org.cn/clgk/clgk.htm

TLD makes a bunch of good points, however I'd like to know more about the girl with dwarfism, since although China produces a large number of talented IT professionals, she was hired anyway. (I'm guessing you (FRB) probably didn't talk to her at all though.)

Sorry, I don't know the background about why she was hired. She'd started shortly before I left, so I never had her in any training sessions and our interactions didn't go much further than nihao and xiexie.

Given my current position in an HR department, where having a uterus is enough of a disability to bar you from getting employed without guanxi, I can't help from being a little cynical. But at the time, I'd assumed she'd been hired on merit. The whole thing just made me realize how few people with disabilities I'd seen working.

Indeed, anyway guys, thanks for your help (again).