The China Teaching Web

Most of my Chinese friends as is the case with many Americans, know very little about Governor Sarah Palin, John Mcain’s choice for running mate in the 2008 Presidential Election. When they do learn more about her, there is one aspect of her life that will undoubtedly catch the attention of many people here. Earlier this year, Governor Palin gave birth to a baby boy despite the fact that doctors told her that he would have Down syndrome. Making the same choice in China is nearly unheard of. If a Chinese mother finds out that her unborn baby is afflicted with a deformity or other abnormality, it is standard procedure to have the baby aborted.

There are many reasons why China is an unfriendly place for disabled people both unborn and born. First, China’s one child policy dictates that after their parents die, disabled children may have no one to take care of them since they would have no siblings. Having a disabled child would also cause problems in a country where social security is lacking and children are expected to take care of their parents in their old age. Faced with such an uncertain future both for their child and themselves, most Chinese parents choose to terminate the pregnancy.

The government’s one child policy has also produced other perhaps ‘unintended’ negative consequences for disabled children. According to Chinese law, parents who give birth to a handicapped child are eligible to ‘have another try’ at bringing a healthy baby into the world. This policy seems to diminish the value of a disabled person’s life in China as parents rush to have a “better child.”

“People abuse this policy as well,” a Chinese friend explained to me today. “When I was a little girl, my mother asked me to pretend that I was deaf so that the Chinese government would give her the chance to have a son.”  While her trick did not work, she says that many others have been successful at faking a disability and obtaining permission to have more children.

Second, the political and physical infrastructure in China is not set up properly to accommodate disabled people. While a number of anti-discrimination and employment laws dealing with the disabled have been in place in China since the early 90′s, the general spirit of these laws have fallen by the wayside in the midst of China’s massive economic development. My Chinese friends and students here tell me that it is extremely difficult for a disabled person to find a job in China given that most companies, including government ones, wish to employ “attractive” people to represent their products. No one that I have talked to here has ever heard of a disabled person suing a company for discrimination. There is also little government assistance to assist families who are dealing with the burden of raising a disabled child.

Disabled people who do try to get around in China will often find that their options are severely limited. Multi-story buildings are still being constructed without elevators. Even in government buildings, I rarely see wheelchair ramps and I have yet to see a handicap accessible bathroom in China. Public buses, at least in the cities that I have visited, do not have any special service for handicapped people. Traveling by train as a handicapped person would most likely be a difficult and traumatic experience.

The fact is, I rarely see any of the 60 million disabled people in China who account for 5% of the population here. They exist but they are barely visible. Now and then, some of China’s ‘top’ disabled people are brought into the spotlight. For example, the China Disabled People’s Performing Art Troupe, which features a talented group of deaf Chinese dancers, has been performing internationally since 1987. When I asked students what they thought disabled people ‘contributed’  to society, this troupe was the only example they could think of.

Where are all of the disabled people that supposedly exist in China? I posed this question to some of my friends and students recently and generally received the same answer.

“They’re at home,” a student explained. “They don’t go out since there is nothing for them to do.” The rest of my students nodded their heads in agreement although another student had a more somber outlook on the issue.

“I always felt bad for a mentally disabled man who used to live next door to me,” the student recounted. “Every day, his parents would lock him in the house while they went to work and the whole neighborhood could hear him howling throughout the day.” My student explained that his crying would only cease when his parents came home at the end of their workday. When I asked my student why he was locked in the house she stated that the man would run away if permitted to leave the house.

China, of course, is not the only country where disabled people face tremendous challenges. However, disabled people in China seem to have fewer voices representing them here than in other countries. If anything, it seems that there are far more organizations outside of China that are calling for change than there are inside the country.

Important changes are taking place in China. Hopefully, the way that society and the government view the issue of disabilities will evolve along with China’s fast development. In the meantime, it is nice to know that there are leaders like Governor Palin who can show the world that disabled people are also blessings from above.