Disability in China

Chinese robot 'guide dog' aims to improve independence for visually impaired

“Roughly the size of an English Bulldog but a bit wider, it can communicate by listening and speaking with a visually impaired operator with artificial intelligence technology incorporated into its voice recognition, route planning capabilities and traffic light identification.” (Jul, Reuters)

Prosthetic hand, Chinese Braille designers awarded Design Intelligence Awards. (2023, Shine)

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Impact

What did disabled youths experience at the peak of infection?
(In Chinese, 2023, We are a minority)

6 disabled people share their covid experiences (In Chinese, 2022)

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Response

Shanghai Covid lockdown: The struggle of blind massage therapists (2022, BBC)

310,000 seniors living alone in Shanghai and young people who help them (in Chinese, 2022, QQ)

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The Formation of the Deaf Community in China, 1887-1945 (Jan) See comment on the Debrief.

Struggle reappears From the era of strong men and role models to the era of experts, reflections written after the conclusion of the Eighth National Congress of the China Disabled Persons' Federation. (In Chinese, 2023, Jieyan)

Today, I don't want to advocate "disability prevention", what about you? (2022, translated by google) Minority Talk

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Braille

New doors open for the visually impaired a feature on use of Braille in China. (2022, China Daily)

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This one-woman show by a disabled woman has made my dream come true. “I have always dreamed that one day, someone can bring the most real disabled people, the most real lives, the most real feelings and the most real needs of disabled people to the stage for all the public to see.” (In Chinese, quote via Google Translate, 2023, The Paper)

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Overview

Atlas of Classified Disability: Spatial Statistics and Pattern (2023, CCDC Weekly)

Report on disability data with a focus on employment. (In Chinese, 2023, JSTV)

Correlation between functional disability and quality of life among rural elderly in Anhui province,: a cross-sectional study. (2022, BMC Public Health)

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Research

Book review of Disability in Contemporary China. Tracing representations of disability from Mao to now. (2022, Disability Studies Community Blog)

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Overview

Alibaba Platforms Leverage Technology to Support Users With Disabilities “by using high-tech means to improve accessibility on its e-commerce and navigation platforms”. (Jan, Alizila)

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Artificial Intelligence

Good for tech: Disability expertise and labor in China's artificial intelligence sector (2023, First Monday)

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Online Accessibility

How Visually Impaired Engineers Are Guiding China’s Accessibility Efforts “A team of partially sighted software programmers in Shenzhen is improving information accessibility by helping developers eliminate the many obstacles facing disabled users.” (Feb, Sixth Tone)

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Social Media

Changing attitudes toward disability, one vlog at a time (2022, Shine)

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Overview

Disability inclusion key to rural revitalization. On how China's poverty alleviation measures supported persons with disabilities: “between 2014 and 2019, the registered number of persons with disabilities living in extreme poverty fell from 7.19 million to 479,000, and reached zero by 2021.” (2022, China Daily)

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Social Protection

The effect of a disability-targeted cash transfer program on universal health coverage and universal access to education: A nationwide cohort study of Chinese children and adolescents with disabilities. (2022, The Lancet Regional Health)

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Disabled orphans bear brunt of China's overseas adoption ban. (Oct, BBC)

Over 1,500 schools launch new alliance to promote inclusive education “The alliance aims to focus on and ensure every child, especially those with special needs, has equitable and quality education” (Oct, China Daily)

Children with dwarfism discuss why accessibility, awareness are needed in Hong Kong (Sep, SCMP)

China wins praise for its educational assistance to Ethiopia's vulnerable students. “This came during a special ceremony held Tuesday to mark the topping-out of a Chinese-funded, multi-purpose school building for Alpha School for the Deaf in Addis Ababa” (2023, Xinhua)

Investigation of sexual assault case at a school for disabled children in Hubei Province (In Chinese, 2023, Weixin)

Discussion on Families We Need Erin Raffety's book on Disability, Abandonment, and Foster Care's Resistance in Contemporary China. (Podcast without transcript, 2023, New Books Network)

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How China’s People With Disabilities Are Confronting the Future of Work A profile on Zhide, a social enterprise providing data annotation, labelling for artificial intelligence. (Apr, Sixth Tone)

Taking Steps Toward Disability Inclusion in China A group of newly launched business and nonprofit coalitions are aiming to advance disability inclusion in a new way. (Mar, SSIR)

Disabled people in China's Ningxia strive to achieve self-reliance (2023, Big News Network)

Supported employment helps people with Down syndrome find jobs (2023, Xinhua News)

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Forming the Chinese Deaf Community a history of early experiences from the nineteenth to twentieth centuries. (Sep, History Workshop)

In loving memory of Prof. Zhang Wanhong. A collection of tributes to “an empathetic, pioneering, prolific and socially-engaged academic”. (Jun, Padlet)

Maoism and mental illness: psychiatric institutionalization during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. (2022, History of Psychiatry)

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‘They fell through the cracks’: how can Hong Kong better help mentally disabled people and their carers? Parents, experts want wider safety net for high-risk residents (2023)

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Staring with the heart a blind writer shares experiences on exploring hearing, touch, smell, taste, and intuition in their writing. (In Chinese, 2023, Ziqiang Wenyuan Micro Journal)

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Book Review of Mental Health Law in China. (2023, International Journal of Disability and Social Justice)

For people with mental health conditions finding work remains a challenge. (2022, Sixth Tone)

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Overview

Armless man in China denied free metro ride without disability pass. “Railway station staff in China who asked an armless man to prove that he was disabled in order to travel for free have sparked a wave of anger on mainland social media.” (Apr, SCMP)

Young people in Guangzhou commute in electric wheelchairs as e-bikes face tighter rules. ‘The electric wheelchair “saves effort and is flexible, and you can ‘drive’ directly to your destination without having to find a parking space”’ (2023, The Straits Times)

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Air Travel

11kg of suspected cocaine found in motorised wheelchair in Hong Kong airport. (2023, BBC)

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China and Disability a journal special issue exploring disability rights in China. (Review of Disability Studies)

Ongoing Challenges Faced by Persons with Disabilities in the People’s Republic of China (2023, US Congressional-Executive Commission on China)

Draft law to improve accessible facilities under review. (2022, China Daily)

Input to the UN Committee highlights areas of concern in consideration of the government’s compliance with its obligations under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. (2022, Human Rights Watch)

Disability Inclusion in China an overview helpdesk report. "The disability movement in China has been disproportionately affected by the Charity Law and Overseas NGO Law, which have necessitated a move from advocacy towards service provision. " (link to pdf, 2021, SD Direct)

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China dominates the Paralympics – but that’s not just down to its almost limitless funds. (Sep, the Guardian)

Improving Accessibility: Hangzhou Hosts the 4th Asian Paralympic Games (2023, Breaking Latest News)

The lowdown on on being disabled in China. With accompanying podcast:

“the perception of disability has changed a lot from my childhood. Now the group of people with disability is more diverse. So, some people are well educated and so they work for some big IT companies which are more open for us. And more importantly is that people with a disability can go outside to use the public transportation and also go shopping, and so the common people become more familiar with them. [...]”

“There were many public demonstrations before 2012, some of them legal, some of them illegal, and many of them broken up by the police. I remember there was a huge demonstration of wheelchair users in Anhui Province in about 2009 for various reasons, because people were being denied accessible homes. So, there was a big public movement at that time. And that’s all stopped. You do not see public activism or protest any longer in China. But what you do get is people working in much more subtle ways. ” (podcast, with transcript, Mar, BBC) (2022, BBC)

Government paper on China's Parasports: Progress and the Protection of Rights. “The remarkable achievements of parasports in China reflect both the sportsmanship and sporting prowess of the disabled, and the progress China is making in human rights and national development.” (2022, Xinhua)

Disabled Chinese Fight for Equal Rights Despite Paralympic Glory. (2022, NYT) “Even China’s most decorated Paralympians have faced discrimination.” Sure, yes, as have decorated Paralympians in every other country?

China is a Paralympics star, but its people with disabilities face high hurdles (2022, NPR)

China excels at the Paralympics, "but its disabled citizens are fighting for access." Like many other countries doing well at the Paralympics, eh. (2022, NPR)

Beijing 2022 promotes accessibility for Paralympians (2022, CGTN)

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Man ordered to pay $4,200 compensation for insulting disabled wife, calling her ‘trash’:

“The court found that Zhao harmed Qian. It ruled that his demeaning behaviour towards his wife amounted to psychological abuse, and his verbal attacks were considered domestic violence.” (Apr, Wion)

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