Can the Paralympic games give China's disabled a boost?

China hopes next year's Paralympics will improve conditions for disabled people.

from the August 21, 2007 edition

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China's disabled face discrimination

As well as physical barriers, Chinese people with disabilities face discrimination at school and in the workplace. Only 63 percent of disabled children under 15 attend school, compared with 98 percent of all children, according to a 2006 national survey. Some universities use physical exams to reject qualified disabled students, a practice that was outlawed in 1991. Teacher-training schools are among the worse offenders, says Ma Yue, a legal officer at the China Disabled Persons' Federation.

"A lot of people don't understand or respect disabled people. These attitudes are at many levels of society, even among intellectuals. It's rare in China to see a disabled teacher," says Ms. Ma.

While elderly people pushed by a family member are a common sight here, an unaccompanied wheelchair user draws stares. Going it alone as Zou Fang does on solo trips is a showstopper. An avid traveler who was paralyzed after a 1997 work accident, Mr. Zou just ended a month-long tour of 11 cities across China. He travels by bus and train, asking for help from drivers to lift his wheelchair aboard.

Zou says that disabled people aren't taught to be independent in China. "I show my photos to my [handicapped] friends and they say, oh, I envy you, I'd love to travel, but I don't think I can do it," he says.

The problem is not isolated to China. Across Asia, people with disabilities face barriers to social participation, as well as insufficient wheelchair-friendly services, says Aiko Akiyama, a regional disabilities specialist for the United Nations in Bangkok, Thailand. One exception is Japan, a wealthy country with an aging population.

"Twenty or 30 years ago, you never saw people in wheelchairs, except for a few activists. Now I see disabled people have become part of [Japan's] social landscape," Ms. Akiyama says.

Paralympics organizers hope that China's athletes can chip away at some of these prejudices during next year's games, as spectators get caught up in the excitement.

At a gymnasium in Beijing, a dozen young men race the length of a basketball court, practicing stops and spins in their streamlined wheelchairs. They break away to shoot hoops, as their coach calls out instructions. For Chen Qi, a muscular, gum-chewing athlete with dyed-blond hair, these daily training sessions could be a route to glory.

He began playing basketball five years ago in his southern hometown of Guangzhou, where he was working as a repairman for mobile phones. This is his first shot at the Paralympics, and a chance to overcome his disability, the result of childhood polio.

"A lot of people think that your legs are disabled, so how can you play basketball? They can't imagine it. After they watch a game, they're stunned and I get respect," Mr. Chen says.

 

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