Disability in China

Hey guys, I'd like some sources which explore the topic of disability in China as well as personal anecdotes.

A fiction project I'm working on focuses extensively of people in China who are in some way marginalized, alienated or otherwise crushed by the insanity that is the Middle Kingdom. Given the large number of people with disabilities, the priority Chinese people place on image inside and outside the home and the frequent abandonment of children with disabilities, it's nearly impossible to write about the dark and grungy parts of China without addressing the most vulnerable and exploited portions of its society.

I'm especially curious about the level of employment of individuals with disabilities. I know that many people, especially those who are physically disabled, do not register as such with the government and are educated in mainstream school environments and may end up pursuing normal/semi-normal employment. Not everyone ends up as a beggar or ends up at home being taken care of by their family.

Anecdote here: http://thegimpparade.blogspot.com/2007/12/disability-in-china.html

Yes I've used Google and yes I have my own sources and observations. However, I just want to get some input from the rest of you guys as well. I separated this thread from my main story thread because I want to focus on the factual aspects of this for now.

I used to live right next to a very large deaf school in Kunming, and then, in Beijing, I used to live near a school for the blind.

Blind students are often trained as masseurs. I don't see it so much in Beijing, but down south I used to see loads of blind massage places. Blind masseurs are supposed to be the best because of their excellent sense of touch.

Have you ever been to Dali, in Yunnan? There's a little bakery/cafe there, called The Sweet Tooth. The bakery employs entirely deaf workers and is run as a non-profit to benefit the deaf community in Dali. The food and coffee there is top notch, I have breakfast there practically every single day when I visit Dali.

Not everyone ends up as a beggar, but the situation for the disabled is very precarious (the disability they receive from the government is a pittance, not nearly enough to survive on, and when they age and their parents pass on, many do not have the ability to care for themselves) and so for people doing charitable work with disabled people in China, a big focus is on giving them some way of making their own income, whether that be through learning a trade or learning how to produce some sort of craft.

You might try searching videos on Youku or Tudou. Local stations often do little segments on uplifting stories about disabled people who beat the odds, or charities involved with disabled children. I remember watching one about a guy with one arm who taught himself motorcycle repair somehow.

Here's my little anecdote.

A couple weeks ago a Chinese friend and I went to The Crowne Hotel for lunch and bowling. When we drove in, the space closest to the front doors was marked with a handicap sign. My friend drove in. I was a bit shocked. When I asked him, he didn't seem to notice the sign. I made him find another one much further than the first.

As we walked up, he asked me about it. He is very educated, modern, travelled and sincere. He also had no concept of handicap parking. He knows about wheelchair access to buildings and whatnot. But why allow parking for disabled people?

1) Most of them are passengers

2) Some of them can drive

3) It's very common elsewhere

It took the better part of an hour going through the list.

Sounds like a lot of sensationalism.  Make people feel better with these so-called "success stories" when many more struggle to survive.

In Chongqing, the people who are obviously disabled are usually the ones begging.  That, or parents desperate to provide support for their disabled child.  There is a man in the local area who has a serious mental disability.  He can't talk and walks with crutches.  The local street sellers would yell at him walking by, or chase him away.  Mind you, he also trashes their stalls from time to time.  It's really saddening to see the complete lack of support for disabled people, especially mental disabilities.

I can't imagine what it would be like to be deaf here.  China is already rude enough towards people who don't speak their language, and Chinese doesn't rely much on gestures or facial expressions to communicate.

It will probably take another 20 years for China to catch up.  In Chinese, someone with a disability is commonly referred to as "canfei", which means broken and useless.  That mentality needs to change if social equity is going to improve.

In Chinese, someone with a disability is commonly referred to as "canfei", which means broken and useless.  That mentality needs to change if social equity is going to improve.

Around here 残废 cánfèi is not often used towards a person unless they are cursing a (usually able-bodied) person for being lazy. cánfèi might be directed at the limb of a disabled person, like say an arm to say that the arm is useless. 残疾 cánjí is used for people. May just be a local thing, I dunno.

China is already rude enough towards people who don't speak their language, and Chinese doesn't rely much on gestures or facial expressions to communicate.

Wow, I don't agree with this at all.

I can't imagine what it would be like to be deaf here.

There is a deaf school nearby me and they are completely separate from anyone else as they go about their daily life. They are ignored and they ignore everyone else. I once signed 'ni hao" to a deaf kid and the people I was with asked me what I was doing and how I knew Chinese sign language. They didn't know what I'd 'said'. I had learned ni hao in the previous ten seconds as two deaf people greeted each other by pointing their index finger at each other then giving a thumbs up gesture. The fact that my friends who are from the area with deaf people around everywhere didn't know this, shows how little attention is paid to them.

Interestingly enough, the deaf kid (in his 20's) reacted to the greeting the way any Chinese person would. With a flurry of faster than light gestures. In other words, He wouldn't shut up and seemed to expect my Chinese was wonderful because I had signed ni hao.

Then again, I have no deaf friends in Canada. I was never in contact with any and I'm not sure 'separated' they are/feel from the rest of society.


I used to live in 浏阳 Liúyáng. Which is basically the capitol city of fireworks production in the world. There are a lot of disabled people due to explosions in the factories. About 1 in 20 students I had in the high school had some kind of disfigurement or disability and the percentage rises as you go up in generation. For the most part, disability and disfigurement in Liúyáng is ignored. Not the people, the disability. Everybody's family has been effected in some way and so there's little overt discrimination towards them at all. There are disabled businessmen in Liúyáng that have done quite well for their families.

In Liúyáng a begger doesn't have much of chance collecting money with a loss of a hand or foot. They are expected to be working.

good post stil 

Hey guys, thanks for your stories.

The thing is, I don't know what/how precisely disability affects employment prospects. I know that it diminishes peoples' ability to find work, however, I see disabled people begging on the metro and then a few minutes later, I see people with that exact same disability/condition going to work. I think it has something to do with the level of education they have (duh) and the level of support they have from their families.

Poor people who would have done manual labor anyway in their station in life are usually the ones begging, especially if they've been abandoned/sold into slavery by their families. Rich people or even middle/somewhat low class people who care about their children will try to get them as much help as possible. A lot of times, people with disabilities attend school with their able bodied classmates, especially if the disability is not an intellectual impairment.

As for which conditions are more "beneficial", disorders affecting mobility are more easily "overcome" in China than developmental/intellectual impairments. Someone missing a limb or a few limbs can still attend a regular school and sit in a regular classroom. It would be harder for a blind/deaf person and even harder for a person with intellectual disabilities. The last ones require tailored education plans, which are outside the financial purview of most Chinese. Therapy like this: http://www.dnaindia.com/health/1782330/report-dolphin-therapy-makes-chinese-autistic-boy-aware-alert
is beneficial but rare and highly expensive.

I think most Chinese people just try to hide whatever problem they have to the best of their abilities and go on living as normally as they can given their station in life. I think the aspect of face prevents people from being more vocal with regards to accommodations/rights.

Adding to that yli, it isn't just out of the financial purview of most Chinese, it is that most Chinese people do not live in Beijing or Shanghai, and so even people who are solidly middle class or well-to-do peasants, they're going to be limited by the resources available in their area.

Ever notice how non-wheelchair accessible most of China is? Beijing is better than most cities because the Olympics and the Paralympics came through, and so there was a big push for accessibility, but most of China is completely inaccessible for someone who uses a wheelchair. Schools for the blind and deaf are great -- but you have to have one near you. Mainstreaming kids with physical disabilities? Sounds good in theory, but if you're in a one-room schoolhouse in Qinghai and you have one teacher for grades 1-4, that teacher does not really have the capacity to serve as an aid for a child with disabilities. If you compare China to most developed countries in terms of pure resources available and allocated for education of children with physical/mental differences, the difference is tremendous. In the States, these people are protected by law -- public places HAVE to be wheelchair accessible, public school MUST accommodate differences, but in China, obviously, the situation is totally different.

As for conditions like autism, China's understanding of that lags so far behind the rest of the developed world that it is pretty shocking. In my son's kindergarten there were at least two or three children who were very obviously different. Their parents, however, had their heads completely in the sand and were convinced that their child would grow out of their condition. Most refused any sort of help, and were offended if you suggested their child had issues. One mother reluctantly sent her child (who flapped his hands, walked in circles, never made eye contact, and was barely verbal) to a local "training center" for autistic kids. He made huge "progress," but I think it was really a matter of conditioning him to respond in certain, socially acceptable ways. Not really modern therapy as we know it. Even my own son, when he was reaching 2 years old and hadn't started speaking yet, I wanted to get him evaluated and possibly placed in speech therapy, and outside of the major international hospitals, I didn't know where to even start. My mom has kids in her class (she's a Montessori teacher) who have relatively minor issues (like ADD), but the parents refuse any sort of help or to acknowledge that there is anything out of the ordinary with their child.

This is one of those issues that you could write an entire dissertation on. There are charities out there that are trying to help, and there are individual success stories (which is what I sort of misinterpreted your first post as looking for -- people who beat the odds somehow) but for most disabled people in China, the best they can really hope for is learning some kind of trade that will keep them employed or having a family committed to caring for them throughout their lives. Keep in mind that in China, even if educational opportunities exist, employment practices are still very discriminatory, and appearance is very important in any industry where the employee will have to face the public. So no, the outlook for most disabled people in China is not that great. I think individuals try and do what they can, but obviously a big push needs to come from the government so that disabled people can have access to the resources that would allow them to reach their fullest potential.

Hey guys, thanks for your stories.

The thing is, I don't know what/how precisely disability affects employment prospects. I know that it diminishes peoples' ability to find work, however, I see disabled people begging on the metro and then a few minutes later, I see people with that exact same disability/condition going to work. I think it has something to do with the level of education they have (duh) and the level of support they have from their families.

Why do some girls work in the factory but others in the same situation become prostitutes? In some instances, perhaps begging is more financially lucrative than other options.

I think most Chinese people just try to hide whatever problem they have to the best of their abilities and go on living as normally as they can given their station in life.

Don't we all?

When I was working at a software company in Shanghai there was a girl working there who had dwarfism. At the time, I don't think I'd ever seen anyone with a disability working before. Even so, the office was definitely not an easy place for her to work and even simple things, like opening doors, were very difficult for her to do without help.

I distinctly remember being at a bar one evening and seeing a guy on crutches. My first instinct was "oh, a beggar is coming" and it ended up just being a guy who broke his leg and was having a beer with friends. Not sure if disabled people are that uncommon walking around with friends or I've just been becoming less observant... either way, I'm embarrassed for jumping to that kind of conclusion.

Maybe you would have felt better if you gave him wu mao?

When I was working at a software company in Shanghai there was a girl working there who had dwarfism. At the time, I don't think I'd ever seen anyone with a disability working before. Even so, the office was definitely not an easy place for her to work and even simple things, like opening doors, were very difficult for her to do without help.

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.)

Maybe FRB knows the answer, but the cynical side of me says "guanxi,"  that she was related to someone or hired as a favor to someone else.

But who knows. IT is not really the kind of of job that requires a good public face so maybe she was just that good and they didn't think the dwarfism mattered.

I currently live in Chongqing, which is, from what other people tell me, a relatively culturally conservative city.  I can't say I see much of people with disabilities. I think a lot of them tend to be hidden away at home to be taken care of.

Around here 残废 cánfèi is not often used towards a person unless they are cursing a (usually able-bodied) person for being lazy. cánfèi might be directed at the limb of a disabled person, like say an arm to say that the arm is useless. 残疾 cánjí is used for people. May just be a local thing, I dunno.

  In Cantonese, cánfèi has still lingered on in common language, although people have been converting over to the more politically correct terms.  We don't talk about disabilities much here with Chongqingers, so I don't know if it's still commonly used here.  I wouldn't be surprised.

Quote from: Canadapanda on April 06, 2013, 07:14:41 PM

China is already rude enough towards people who don't speak their language, and Chinese doesn't rely much on gestures or facial expressions to communicate.

Wow, I don't agree with this at all.

Well, I'm guessing you don't a) live in Chongqing where people appear to have never seen foreigners before, and b) don't look Chinese and are expected to understand and respond coherently to an endless babble in local dialect.  I get some of the dirtiest looks and the rudest responses when I'm not standing next to an obvious-looking foreigner.  I can't even pretend to be deaf.  Don't know how to say it in Chinese.  Not everyone is rude.  Some of these people are lovely. There are assholes everywhere.  Fact of life.

What I know of Chinese is that it is language that is not based much off body language.  Most of the nuances are contained within the word choice (or 4 character proverb choice) and volume.  People who are not making much of an effort to communicate, or have never spoken to a foreigner before, would not even think to use gestures. 

----
That was an interesting story about the deaf school.  I wonder how complex Chinese sign language is compared to spoken and written Chinese.  I can't imagine how much it would cost to send your kid to a school for the deaf.  I would imagine that there are some state-funded ones, albeit not enough.  Was that school public or private?

Then again, I have no deaf friends in Canada. I was never in contact with any and I'm not sure 'separated' they are/feel from the rest of society.

It's rather hard to communicate when you don't share a common mode of communication.  One of my best friend's mom is deaf.  She says her mom stays at home a lot and keeps to herself.  When she does go out, she would usually hang out with her deaf friends.  I think it comes out of segregation by necessity.  I've also seen a deaf lady lead a public speaking society.  She was capable of reading lips and was quite the speaker herself.  Excellent conversations were had with her using spoken language.

Really, dealing with disabilities is a mixture of social acceptance, programs to help adapt these people's needs to society, and personal perseverance.  As much as I like to be optimistic about some things, I don't think China has persons with disabilities at the top of their list of priorities.

Maybe FRB knows the answer, but the cynical side of me says "guanxi,"  that she was related to someone or hired as a favor to someone else.

But who knows. IT is not really the kind of of job that requires a good public face so maybe she was just that good and they didn't think the dwarfism mattered.

It probably isn't too hard to pick up a job like back-end engineering or something like that if you're qualified. Since all job seekers have strengths and weaknesses, being short is pretty easy to overlook in an IT job. "Is short" is a flaw but something like "knows JavaScript better than the other candidate" is a plus which would hugely outweigh the con, even in a place like China.

The biggest problem is getting enough schooling for such a position, which would definitely be a hurdle in China.