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Accessible facilities for the disabled

Disabled people's difficulty in finding jobs partly resulted from their lack of education. Data from China's sixth nationawide population census show  that 37.7 percent of disabled people in China never went to school. Only 36.9 percent had a primary education, while only 1.50 percent finished higher education or above.

Handicapped spots for the disabled parking are barred by a rope in China Rehabilitation Research Centre.[Chen Boyuan / China.org.cn]

"Regular schools can take disabled children, and the government actually requires them to do so, but accessibility problem is a major factor that blocks such students out, especially in primary and secondary education, and especially to the physically disabled," said Zhang Jinming.

Even if schools are willing to take disabled students, they are rarely equipped with handicap-accessible facilities. The sheer difficulty of getting around scares many physically disabled students away from school.

"Most schools do not have special facilities for disabled students. Taking staircases, going to bathrooms are both problems, and disabled students in such schools rely on classmates or parents to carry them around," Zhang said.

He said schools in developed Western countries would specially modify and upgrade facilities just even for just one disabled student. Recalling his experience in Oslo, Norway, he said such practices included moving classes with physically disabled students to the ground floor and modifying the staircase ramps. "Developed foreign countries would always come up with measures to meet disabled people's educational needs," he said.

In the United States, the disabled and the aged are eligible for special parking places ("handicapped spots"). Drivers who park in such spots without a 'handicapped' designation face fines. In Chicago, Illinois, such violations will result in a fine up to US$200. By the same token, buses use ramps and lifts to help people in wheelchairs on and off.

"We are willing to move toward that direction but China's special condition causes complications, such as population," said Man.

"Having a busload of people cramming each other waiting for one wheelchair during the rush hour isn't practical, either," she said, referring to the question of efficiency versus equality. "Equally, disabled people wouldn't want to choose to be a trouble themselves," she said.

But China has to develop its own measures for the disabled. China's Law on the Protection of the Disabled, enacted in 1990, is the most authoritative guideline to ensure the wellbeing of this vulnerable group of people. The country's Twelfth Five-Year Plan (2011-15) also includes plans for better accommodating the disabled.

If disabled people are to be truly integrated in Chinese society, it will require a concentrated effort from disabled and able-bodied persons alike.

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