BEIJING - May 19 2014 Mike, 13, lives on the outskirts of Beijing. He is gifted: He plays the piano by ear and, most afternoons, practices singing Italian opera. Yet Mike, whose family has requested that his Chinese name not be used, may never be able to go to university, or even high school, because he is almost completely blind. Now in junior high, he has no special assistance in class and has to navigate the curriculum by himself. It takes him hours to take exams, trying to see the tests with what little vision he has in one eye. Because of his handicap, he receives no grades. With no grades, he is practically shut out from higher education. "We are still trying to find a way for him," said Mike's mother, who requested anonymity to avoid further discrimination against her son. "Maybe he can go abroad or study art, but it seems there is no way for him to have access to higher education in China." China has approximately 85 million people with disabilities, according to the United Nations. Experts in the field, including professors of special education, human-rights officials and lawyers representing the disabled, say that the Chinese government, despite some progress, is not doing enough to ensure that people with disabilities have equitable access to higher education -- or really any education at all.
At the end of 2012, more than 90,000 disabled children had no access to schooling, according to the China Disabled Persons' Federation, a quasi- government organization. Between 2008 and 2012, only 35,000 disabled people were enrolled in mainstream higher-education institutions, the organization said. To put that in context, nearly seven million people graduated from college in China in 2013 alone. "Higher-education discrimination is the tip of the iceberg," said Maya Wang, a Hong Kong-based researcher with Human Rights Watch. "A lot of students with disabilities face discrimination at the lower levels." A 2013 Human Rights Watch report noted that in 2008 the Chinese government ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities, which calls for inclusive education at all levels. Still, the report said, the central government in Beijing "has no clear and consistent strategy to achieve that goal." Instead, the government has poured billions of dollars into developing a separate special-education system, from primary-school level to college, for the disabled. These special schools, however, sometimes lack trained teachers, are far from the homes of students, and prevent students from ever crossing back into mainstream education, Human Rights Watch said. The two systems "exist in parallel and rarely interact," the report said. Within the special system, students who are blind or deaf are often shunted into vocational schools or colleges that offer training in music, painting, or massage therapy -- jobs deemed appropriate for the disabled. "These options are based stereotypically on what people with disabilities might be good at doing," said Ms. Wang, of Human Rights Watch. "There are very limited choices, and if they do want to try mainstream education, they face very high barriers." 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Disabled people in China say they have limited access to jobs and higher education. Credit Darcy Holdorf Continue reading the main story Continue reading the main story Continue reading the main story Share This Page email facebook twitter save more Continue reading the main story Continue reading the main story BEIJING -- Mike, 13, lives on the outskirts of Beijing. He is gifted: He plays the piano by ear and, most afternoons, practices singing Italian opera. Yet Mike, whose family has requested that his Chinese name not be used, may never be able to go to university, or even high school, because he is almost completely blind. Now in junior high, he has no special assistance in class and has to navigate the curriculum by himself. It takes him hours to take exams, trying to see the tests with what little vision he has in one eye. Because of his handicap, he receives no grades. With no grades, he is practically shut out from higher education. "We are still trying to find a way for him," said Mike's mother, who requested anonymity to avoid further discrimination against her son. "Maybe he can go abroad or study art, but it seems there is no way for him to have access to higher education in China." China has approximately 85 million people with disabilities, according to the United Nations. Experts in the field, including professors of special education, human-rights officials and lawyers representing the disabled, say that the Chinese government, despite some progress, is not doing enough to ensure that people with disabilities have equitable access to higher education -- or really any education at all. At the end of 2012, more than 90,000 disabled children had no access to schooling, according to the China Disabled Persons' Federation, a quasi- government organization. Between 2008 and 2012, only 35,000 disabled people were enrolled in mainstream higher-education institutions, the organization said. To put that in context, nearly seven million people graduated from college in China in 2013 alone. "Higher-education discrimination is the tip of the iceberg," said Maya Wang, a Hong Kong-based researcher with Human Rights Watch. "A lot of students with disabilities face discrimination at the lower levels." A 2013 Human Rights Watch report noted that in 2008 the Chinese government ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities, which calls for inclusive education at all levels. Still, the report said, the central government in Beijing "has no clear and consistent strategy to achieve that goal." Instead, the government has poured billions of dollars into developing a separate special-education system, from primary-school level to college, for the disabled. These special schools, however, sometimes lack trained teachers, are far from the homes of students, and prevent students from ever crossing back into mainstream education, Human Rights Watch said. The two systems "exist in parallel and rarely interact," the report said. Within the special system, students who are blind or deaf are often shunted into vocational schools or colleges that offer training in music, painting, or massage therapy -- jobs deemed appropriate for the disabled. "These options are based stereotypically on what people with disabilities might be good at doing," said Ms. Wang, of Human Rights Watch. "There are very limited choices, and if they do want to try mainstream education, they face very high barriers." Xi Fang, now 40, is an example. Ms Xi, who is deaf, works for a small nonprofit in Shanghai that makes hearing aids. When she was young, she could not pass exams to enter high school, so she quit her studies and worked in a bicycle factory and then for a textile manufacturer. She says that any textbooks she had were much simpler than the standard texts. A local government organization for disabled people told her that the only option she had was to work in a factory that made cheap reproductions of paintings. "If I could hear, I would have wanted to be a doctor," Ms. Xi said. To enroll in a university, Human Rights Watch said, all students must take a physical exam in which they must disclose any disabilities. The results of the medical tests are sent directly to universities. In addition, the government has issued a number of guidelines that advise universities on types of disabilities that would render a student unable to complete studies independently. Human Rights Watch says this sends "a clear signal to universities that they can discriminate in admissions on the basis of students' physical or mental attributes or disabilities." There is also a dearth of teachers trained to teach students with physical or learning disabilities, according to Deng Meng, a professor in the Institute of Special Education at Beijing Normal University, one of a handful of Chinese universities that offer special education as a field of study. Professor Deng said the reason was simple: Many college students viewed the field as a career dead end. "We are very much lacking teachers to teach students with disabilities, even in special schools, not to mention regular schools," he said. "Special education departments at universities, we lack trained teachers too." The professor said that learning disabilities were still not widely recognized and that assessment protocols for learning disabilities were virtually nonexistent. Some private schools have been set up for such students, but otherwise few resources are available. "We don't even know who these students are and what problems they have, and we don't have the instruments to even analyze what learning disabilities they have," he said. "There is a long way to go. We have just begun the journey." Many Chinese laws include language calling for equal treatment of people with disabilities, including equal access to education. Legal experts, however, say that too often this is empty rhetoric with no teeth, no clear meaning and no means of enforcement. The laws "look nice, but they only contain big and empty words," said Huang Rui, a lawyer who helps people with disabilities fight for educational access. "No laws ban disabled students from being enrolled in college, but college administrators give tacit consent that people who are blind or deaf or who have other disabilities cannot go to university." Still, Mr. Huang said the situation appeared to be slowly improving. He himself is physically disabled but was able to obtain a law degree. In April, China's Education Ministry offered guidance on how to provide the gaokao, the college-entrance examination, in Braille or electronic form to accommodate the blind. Human Rights Watch called this an "important breakthrough." The ministry also announced plans to ensure that at least 90 percent of children with visual, hearing, and intellectual disabilities receive primary- and middle-school education by the end of 2016. The plan calls for more investment in infrastructure, teacher training, and curriculum reform. For higher education, the plan calls for universities and colleges to create better conditions for disabled students and to not refuse admission because of disabilities. The Education Ministry declined interview requests for this article. Han Yongmei, a director in the department of education and employment of the China Disabled Persons' Federation, which works with the Education Ministry, said the national environment for students with disabilities was getting better. "Laws and regulations are improving, but they take time to implement," she said. "Considering our situation in China, I think we are doing well." A version of this article appears in print on May 19, 2014, in The International New York Times. -- Avinash Shahi M.Phil Research Scholar Centre for The Study of Law and Governance Jawaharlal Nehru University New Delhi India Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/ To unsubscribe send a message to accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in with the subject unsubscribe. 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