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Opinion / Li Xing

Making life easier for the disabled

By Li Xing (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-04-21 07:49

Beijing School for the Blind, founded in 1874 in downtown Beijing by
Scottish missionary William Hill Murray, was relocated to a more desolate
suburban spot in Haidian District in 1921.

More than 80 years have passed and the school is still at the same
address in northwestern Beijing, currently educating some 170 students
with visual impairment.

Every day, the children have to pass through a tunnel underneath a busy
railway line, going to and from the bus stop closest to the school.
However, the tunnel is no more than 1.5 meters high and about the width
of one-and-a-half cars. Without public works' maintenance, the road
remains bumpy and rainwater gathers in puddles that take days to dry up.

It is easy to imagine how difficult it is for the taller children and
their parents to lower their heads to avoid bumping into the roof and
battling through the tunnel every day, as some small motor vehicles have
made it a convenient short cut.

Three years ago, Beijing Television publicized the predicament of these
visually impaired children. Meanwhile, some members of the top municipal
advisory body the Beijing People's Political Consultative Conference also
sent their proposals, urging the city to take steps to help the students
and local residents.

However, when the news crew returned to the place again late last month,
they found nothing had changed. The city planners, the railway authority
and other government agencies concerned "are still discussing ways to
solve the problem".

The fact that neither the media nor the political advisors had effected
change for so many years is one of the many examples of administrative
and social disregard for the disabled.

There is no denying that the rapid economic and social progress China has
experienced over nearly 30 years has dramatically changed the lives of
many in China, the disabled included. Two years ago, the school's first
batch of senior high graduates all got enrolled in the special education
program at Beijing Union University.

However, while the media praises the efforts of the government and
society to help people with disabilities, it often overlooks how many
social and administrative obstacles these students have encountered.

In fact, the rules for college enrolment, despite modifications in recent
years, still allow for colleges and universities to reject applicants
with disabilities or chronic illnesses such as congenital heart diseases.

Children with disabilities and congenital diseases grow up with more
hurdles than their able-bodied peers can hardly imagine. They have few
chances to ever enjoy the best schools or colleges in the country and
have to settle for what is available and be thankful.

And most people with disabilities are still struggling with the slim hope
of getting treated as equals by society.

The general argument is still that China remains a developing country and
that the governments at all levels have done a lot.

But a lot more has to be done. More importantly, while swift actions are
called for to make life easier for the disabled, more affirmative
regulations should be in place to facilitate actions from all walks of
life so that children with disabilities are able to grow up and enjoy the
same opportunities as their peers.

E-mail: lixing@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 04/21/2007 page4)

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