Meet the Disabled in China Fighting for Equal Access Rights

Center left is Xie Renci, center right is Cai Cong [Photo:By Xie Renci for China Plus]

When Cai Cong first started school, his biggest ambition was to be able to sit for, and pass, the famous Gaokao or College Entrance Exam in China; with an aim of joining one of the best higher education institutions in the country.

"But when I applied to sit for the 'Gaokao' and asked whether they could provide some support so that I could participate in the examination and have someone read the paper for me, they refused. That's was in 2004," Said Cai Cong.

Asked what the main reason for being denied a chance to sit for the exams was he answered;

"They said we haven't had an example before, so we can't really help you".

Although, the news broke his heart but he was not to give up.

The visually impaired Cai Cong then joined a special school where he acquired skills in acupuncture and massage. 

"You know in China most of the visually impaired persons do massage because their major options are limited," he goes on. 

Despite his efforts in becoming a masseur he still felt that there was more that he could do besides that. So he quit his job and went on to become an advocate to fight for equal rights to education for the visually impaired through the Disabled Person's Organisation (DPO) in Beijing. Today he is the Disability Project director at Youren, Foundation. 

"We want to change minds; we want to show the society that persons with disabilities can do many things and not just massages."

When I met Cai Cong, he was among a group of participants attending a day long China Disability and Sustainable Development Forum held in Beijing. 

He together with law student Xie Renci (谢仁慈) had been the keynote speakers at the event; telling their personal accounts on living with disability and their advocacy for basic access rights. I believe it was their infectious attitude and strong will to fight for what they deemed rightful that drew me into talking to them. 

It's after talking to these two and many others that I really understood how challenging it is for Persons with disabilities to get access to basic human rights, consequently as a result of a skewed public perception of people with disabilities.

Xie Renci believes that it's time that able-bodied stakeholders need to understand that disability does not equal inability. 

"The most important thing is that I don't think that I am just a person with disability because I think, well yeah, I'm a girl and a person with disability but so what; and also I can do whatever I want; run, dance and do so many other things that I believe I can."  

[Photo:By Xie Renci for China Plus]

Xie Renci's disability is different from that of Cai Cong. And her story is equally inspiring. From a little girl who lost her right leg in an accident at a very tender age of four, to an outstanding and budding lawyer at the South West University of Political Science and Law. She yearns for people to look at her and see her and others and not see the disability first. For that to happen, she wants the media to be part of the conversation and be at the forefront in promoting abilities rather than disabilities of these individuals. 

"Actually I don't think disability is about the good or bad, it's just a very normal thing because everyone in society needs help; but unfortunately when we need help, we're just the disabled people. So I think the media should write and tell people disability is just a thing; tell the society the disabled are just people who need some help," said Mercy. 

Speaking of help, after several years of making their case to China's Education administration and related departments, Cai Cong said his team finally was able to convince the authorities to provide support for those who have visual disabilities but would like to sit for the famous Gaokao. 

"We put in a lot of effort for several years and in 2015, the education department announced a new regulation that the Gaokao will provide a reasonable combination for the blind so that they can participate in the Gaokao by brail paper or large print paper," he said. 

Meanwhile the media has been accused of being the major culprit in portraying the disabled people as pitiable. As a result this depiction of people with disabilities has played a major role in molding the public perception; a perception that person's living with disabilities and other stakeholders desperately wish to change. 

"We want to encourage journalists to report on rights-based approach so treat persons with disability as an equal individual and as an equal contributor to the society. Instead of focusing on their disability, we try to promote their ability, " Said Gracie Zeng, a communications officer from UNESCO-China office.

[Photo: From Bing.com]

Currently according to the United Nations, China is said to have the largest community of individuals with disabilities in the world, with over 85 million persons, most of whom have generally poorer health, lower education achievements, fewer economic opportunities and higher rates of poverty than people without disabilities. This is largely due to the lack of services available to them and the many obstacles they face in their everyday lives in a world designed to mainly support the able-bodied.

Having inclusive education in place therefore is one key area that could be used to raise the profiles for those living with disability. 

"And in inclusive education we promote that most of the children should be able to go to regular schools but of course their learning needs need to be met in the ways that are appropriate for them to accommodate their different learning needs" said an official from UNESCO China.

Today, there are over one billion people in the world living with disability, of whom 2-4% experience significant difficulties in functioning according to the latest World report on disability, jointly produced by W.H.O and the World Bank.