When I lived in Shenyang 25
years ago, it was the early years of paramount leader Deng Xiaoping’s
Open Door Policy, an ambitious plan to remake China to be modern
and more open, including for citizens with disabilities. Deng was
influenced by his son Pufang, a wheelchair user. In 1988, Deng Pufang
established the China Disabled Persons Federation, www.cdpf.org.cn/home/home.htm,
the organization which represents China’s 83 million people
living with disabilities.
China is richer today,
but the disability community has not modernized at the same pace.
Twenty-five years ago few people had regular access to electricity.
Today millions live in modern apartments furnished with advanced
electronics and appliances. With the exception of such model individuals
as Paralympics athletes or China Disabled People’s
Performing Art Troupe performers, see the YouTube video: www.youtube.com/,
Chinese with disabilities beg in public as they have for centuries,
their stories of woe written in large characters on a piece of cardboard
as they demonstrate their disability to passersby.
The coming of the Paralympics
is changing China, as was evident on my visit in June. In preparation,
Beijing has been making accessible accommodations, tourist attractions,
and transportation facilities. A recent media blitz highlighted adaptations
at the Forbidden City while the Beijing Paralympic Games website
highlights other improvements
http://en.paralympic.beijing2008.cn/index.shtml.
But behind this publicity
lies the continuing challenges facing Chinese with disabilities.
There are two key issues: accessible facilities and especially
the cultural attitudes. In a June 19 article, The Economist Magazine “Limbering
up for the games” described the measures
being taken to increase security before and during the events in
Bejing. The article states, “But other measures smack of
overkill. Beggars and disabled people have been ordered, and in
some cases forced, off the streets. Those from outside Beijing
have been threatened with detention unless they go home until the
games are over.” Read the complete
article at: www.economist.com/.
China is still a developing country and most people live in rural
villages and small cities. As television footage from the Sichuan earthquake
showed, building construction standards need upgrading for all sectors
of the country. Few streets have traffic controls, let alone signals
or sidewalks designed to help persons with difficulty seeing, hearing,
or walking. Elevators in most buildings are small and unreliable, when
they are even available. For travelers, only the most expensive hotels
will have the necessary facilities.
Nonetheless, intrepid
travelers like Rosemary Ciotti of Arlington Virginia, who documented
her 2004 trip in “Wheelchair Nomad:
Beijing, China,” www.geocities.com/,
are demanding changes in the tourism industry that hopefully will
inspire modifications throughout China.
The Paralympics are
expected to accelerate change. Jeff Burley, Adaptive Manager for
Utah’s Salt Lake County Parks and Recreation and
the Intermountain region manager of Professional Ski Instructors
of America/Adaptive, wrote from his visits to Barcelona, Sydney,
Athens and Beijing that accessibility improves dramatically in
countries after they have hosted the Paralympics: “We have
really enjoyed the trend of countries improving access following
the Paralympic Games.” (“Travel
and the Paralympic Movement,”www.disaboom.com/)
Chinese cultural attitudes
toward disability can be complex. Many Chinese, especially successful
urbanites, see disability as shameful. In contrast, though, people
from impoverished rural areas see disability as a normal feature
of human existence. When I show middle-class Chinese photos of
my sister—she has cerebral palsy—they often pull
a grave face and say to me, “A tragedy for your family,” then
change the subject quickly. Their discomfort rests in traditional views
of disability as an embarrassment: someone with cerebral palsy (and
that person’s siblings) would find it difficult to marry, as
few would be willing to marry into a family like mine. But when I meet
workers from rural areas, their reaction is pragmatic and straight-forward
and I often find myself answering questions about the practical, even
intimate, details of my sister’s life, and hearing expressions
of admiration for the high quality of her assistive technology devices.
Another issue is that
in traditional culture independence and privacy are not valued
highly. To be independent and private seems like a lonely way to
live for many Chinese. Society is organized around the family,
nicely illustrated for Americans through Amy Tan’s novel The
Joy Luck Club. This emphasis on the close-knit, nurturing family has
implications for the development of disability rights and means that
the movement in China will not mirror the evolution of the movement
elsewhere. For example, Rosemary Ciotti’s daughter (a student
in China when she visited) was dismayed at being publicly rebuked for
not pushing her mother’s wheelchair around Beijing. Her mother’s
desire to be independent was not understood by Beijing people, who
saw only an unfilial daughter forcing her mother to struggle.
The recent controversy
over the Beijing Paralympics volunteers’ guide
suggests that the Paralympics are challenging Chinese assumptions
about people with disabilities. International groups reacted with
outrage at wording that described persons with disabilities as “isolated,
unsocial, and introspective…stubborn and controlling … defensive
and having a strong sense of inferiority” (Ashling O’Connor, “Disabled
Groups Outraged by Beijing Snub,” The Times, May 27, 2008,
www.timesonline.co.uk/). Embarrassed
at the gaffe, the Chinese Paralympic task force quickly revised the
guide. Since then the newly-sensitized Beijing Organizing Committee,
XXIX Olympiad Games (BOCOG) has increased publicity stressing China’s
openness to the disability community.
In May when the country’s
attention focused on earthquake rescues as the Olympic torch traversed
China, Chinese Paralympic athletes became instant media stars.
While Paralympians are not representative of the average person
with a disability, it was a new idea for the Chinese public to
connect images of persons seriously injured in the earthquake with
the heroic images of athletes with disabilities being paraded by
the BOCOG as an inspiration to the people of Sichuan.
The Paralympics will
likely result in better facilities for international visitors as
well as greater sensitivity to the needs of China’s
own disability community. Isao Hokugo, president of Japan’s
Paralympic Committee and chairman of the Japan Sports Association
for the Disabled whose experience with the Games dates to 1994 remarked
to reporters on his recent visit to Beijing that, “According to our experience
the Paralympic Games produced a huge boost for the welfare of people
with disabilities in the host country….It is not just the
Games itself that creates an impact, but the years after the Games.”
If so, we can expect
more doors to open in China, fulfilling early visions of a modern
society inclusive of all. ![end of story]()
Cui Xiaohuo, “Learning
a Lesson from Japan’s Paralympians,” China
Daily, June 6, 2008, www.chinadaily.com.cn/
