2007 marks further developments of China’s efforts in building a well-off society in an all-round way, with the state general power further enhanced and people’s livelihood further improved. It is also a year of important achievements in the area of disability. Through implementing the principal guidelines of the CPC 17th National Congress, new policies and measures have been adopted for the development of the work on disability. The 12th Special Olympics World Summer Games was successfully hosted which further enhanced the governments’ and social priority on the life and development for people with intellectual disabilities. The 2nd National Sample Survey on Disability was fruitfully conducted. The amendment to the Law on the Protection of Disabled People was in smooth progress. The Chinese Government signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Regulation on the Employment of People with Disabilities entered into force. The National Abilympics was held. Pilot projects of CBR were broadly introduced. Institutions on rehabilitation were further developed, aiming at increasing service ability to disabled people. Mechanism of legal assistance to disabled persons was further developed and the legitimate rights of disabled persons were effectively protected. Preparations on the 2008 Beijing Paralympics was in full swing. Humanitarianism was increasingly rooted in the society and theoretical study on disability was further done. Grassroots organizations of people with disabilities were further standardized. Through the implementation of the Outlines of Work on Disability during the 11th Five-year Development Program Period, the status of people with disabilities was further improved and the government’s service ability to disabled people was greatly enhanced.
Ⅰ. Rehabilitation
During 2007, through the implementation of some key projects, some 53.59 millions disabled persons received rehabilitation services to different extents; CDPF charity lottery fund project was completed successfully benefiting more than 190，000 disabled persons in poverty; community-based rehabilitation was actively promoted; guidance was given to the capacity building of rehabilitation institutions; the national rehabilitation personnel training program was implemented to further the work of personnel training; and new type of cooperative medical care for disabled persons in rural areas was also positively advanced and more was done in publicizing basic knowledge about rehabilitation among the public.
In the year, 800,000 cases of cataract surgeries were conducted, including 230,000 poor cataract patients.
In the year, 32,000 low-vision patients received vision aids. 13,000 disabled children’s parents got trainings for more effective family-based rehabilitation.
12,224 blind persons received orientation mobility trainings in the year.
The development of the deaf children rehabilitation centers at provincial level further improved the nationwide network for deaf children’s rehabilitation. There were 19,869 deaf children across the country got hearing and speech trainings; parents’ schools were further regulated and trained 26,737 parents of deaf children in the year. Through joint education projects, 5568 person/times trainings were provided to all kinds of professionals; by running charity activities such as Donating aids and Regaining Hearing through Rehabilitation, some 6,000 poor deaf children got help and were provided with 12,000 hearing aids.
A “socialized, comprehensive and open” model for the prevention and rehabilitation of psychiatric disabled persons were effectively promoted. During 2007, the work of prevention and rehabilitation were carried out in some 1,555 cities and counties, covering a total population of 4.34 million persons with severe mental illness, with the rate of guardianship reached up to 83.76 %, of them 69.26 % got substantial recovery and 56.07 % with social participation, incident rate lowed down to 0.38 %; 10,781 persons were lifted out of locking-up and 337,000 persons with mental disorder in poverty got relief.
27 autism rehabilitation institutions were set up. 1,056 children with autism got rehabilitation trainings.
3,964 cases of corrective surgeries were given to disabled persons with leprosy. Education was carried out to create a favorable social atmosphere for these patients’ returning to society.
The work of supplying assistive devices was advanced in particular in promoting cost-effective artificial limbs. By end of 2007, 1,969 installation stations were established, 23,000 items of cost-effective artificial limbs were installed with fee exemption or reduction. A total of 950,000 assistive devises and 13,000 prostheses of 500 types were supplied.
5835 rehabilitation training services centers for people with physical disabilities were set up. Trainings were provided to 88,000 physically disabled persons. 26,000 children with intellectual disabilities ranging from zero till 14 got services in 2,229 centers.
62,026 CBR services were carried out in 750 districts and 1,298 counties. CBR service stations were set up with 109,000 CBR rehabilitation coordinators. There were 5.6 million persons got CBR services.
II. Education
In 2007, the right to education for disabled persons was better guaranteed. The quality and capacity of disabled persons to participate equally in social life was improved. There were 1,667 special schools and 2,803 special classes affiliated to mainstream schools for the blind, deaf and intellectual disabled children, enrolling 580,000 students with these categories of disabilities.
There were 83 senior high special schools, with 4,978 enrolled students; in which 68 are for the deaf, with 4,047 deaf students; 15 are for the blind, with 931 blind students. A total of 5,234 and 1,086 disabled students were accepted respectively by ordinary and special higher education institutions.
There were 4,032 special vocational training institutions at provincial, city and county levels. Some 2,114 ordinary institutions received trainees with disabilities as well. A total of 730,000 disabled persons were trained with vocational skills trainings, 90,000 of them got professional qualification certificates. There were 168 vocational education institutions granting secondary educational qualifications, with 9,028 enrolled students and 5,647 graduates, including 4,345 with professional qualification certificates.
During 2007, some 32,000 poor and disabled students received financial support. CDPF’ s Special Lottery Charity Scholarship supported poor and disabled students receiving compulsory education and learning in secondary and higher education institutions. By end of 2007, there were 227,000 disabled children and youth at schooling age did not have access to education, including 30,000 with visual disability, 32,000 with hearing disability, 23,000 with speech disability, 50,000 with intellectual disability, 50,000 with physical disability, 14,000 with psychiatric disability and 28,000 with multiple disabilities.
III. Employment and Social Security
The work for the employment for persons with disability made new progress in 2007. Some 392,000 disabled persons in urban areas were newly employed, including 119,000 through concentrative placement, 115,000 through quota employment and 158,000 through various forms of self-employment and some 16,965,000 disabled persons in rural areas were employed as well.
Blind massage industry grew fast with quick increase of the number of relevant service institutions. During 2007, some 7,143 blind masseurs were trained for medical care purpose and 100,052 were trained for fitness. Over 95 % of trained masseurs for fitness got jobs. There were 10,188 blind massage institutions for fitness and 1,500 for medical care. There were 3,257 and 5,383 blind masseurs passed secondary and elementary level qualification exams and 42 passed the senior level exams.
Fostering service for people with intellectual and psychiatric disabilities was developed with newly built institutions over 1,000, providing fostering service to 18,000 people with intellectual disabilities, 5,000 with psychiatric disabilities and 4,700 with other severe disabilities.
Social security for disabled persons was further improved. 2.607 million disabled persons in urban areas enjoyed social insurance; among those urban as well as rural areas where minimum living standards policies were adopted, some 6.359 million disabled persons enjoyed the minimum living guarantee. Some 608,000 disabled persons lived in all kinds of welfare institutions and care centers; and 3.705 million received provisional or fixed-term special allowance or social relief.
Ⅳ. Poverty Alleviation
All provincial (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government) governments mainstreamed the work of poverty alleviation for the disabled persons into local governmental work and programs and widely mobilized social resources to support poor and disabled people. The work in this respect made remarkable progress and the living and production conditions of poor and disabled persons were further improved.
During 2007, some 1.794 million of poor and disabled persons received support, including 1.273 million solved problems of food and clothing. Some 770,000 disabled persons received practical skills trainings which cost training expenses of 149 million RMB yuan.
In the same year, 440 million RMB yuan was allocated for all kinds of poverty reduction programs (excluding some 760 million RMB yuan special loan for rehabilitation and poverty), benefiting 5.188 million of disabled persons in terms of enjoying preferential treatment and support. Some 140,000 units and 885,000 individuals became pairs to support disabled persons and the financial input in cash and kinds cost was about 260 million RMB yuan. There established 3,123 poverty alleviation bases, with inputs of 186 million RMB yuan, recruiting and supporting 240,000 poor and disabled persons.
By the end of 2007, there were 1,762 county level service centers for disabled persons, with 5,348 staff and 14,720 branches with 18,404 staff.
In 2007, 121,800 disabled persons’ houses were renovated with support, benefiting 167,400 disabled persons.
V. Publicity and Culture Activities
The work for publicity and culture for the disabled persons were enhanced and social atmosphere became more favorable in 2007. Activities around the 17th National Day of Assisting Disabled Persons were successful, raising further the public awareness and positive response. Events such as Selecting Good news Covering Disability in China and Special Programs on Disability on Radios publicized the work and achievements in the field of disability and created a positive social influence and impact. By end of 2007, there were 37 special columns and 161 special editions in provincial newspapers and magazines and 22 signed TV news programs. There established 28 disability publicity promotion societies at provincial level. There were also 513 special columns and 867 special editions in district/city newspapers and magazines and 190 signed TV news programs. There established 187 disability publicity promotion societies at district/city level.
National art festivals for students in special schools were hold with over 100,000 participants.
By the end of 2007, there were 35 provincial level libraries with Braille and audio reading materials, 58 exhibitions about the work for disabled persons. There were 19 disabled persons’ performing arts troupes in total. At city level, there were 259 libraries with Braille and audio reading materials, 395 exhibitions about the work for disabled persons. There were 131 disabled persons’ performing arts troupes in total.
VI. Sports
In 2007, 594 athletes representing China competed in 39 international sports events such as athletics, swimming, shooting, wheelchair basketball, wheelchair tennis, sitting volleyball, cycling, and wheelchair rugby and won 339 gold, 172 silver and 147 bronze medals and broke 11 world records. These set a solid foundation for the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games.
The mass sports were also promoted for the health and fitness of disabled persons through competitions and trainings. There were 188 provincial level sports centers and 1,264 city/prefecture centers. The number of registered sports training bases at provincial and city level were 199 and 476 respectively and the number of coaches they recruited were 579 and 1,409. There were 104 fitness sports developed. And 95 sports games were organized with 10,157 participants. Some 838 city level sports and mass sports competitions were organized, with 51,975 disabled persons participated.
7th National Games of Disabled People was held with over 3,000 participants from all localities and HK SAR and Macau SAR.
The 12th Special Olympics World Summer Games was held with over 7,000 athletes from more than 160 countries and regions.
VII. Rights Protection
In line with the National Program on Disability during the 11th Five-Year Program Period and relevant implementation action plans concerning the work on legislation, accessibility and legal assistance, disabled persons’ federations at all levels further strengthened their work in rights protection. They built up their capacities in right protection, improved the legal systems concerning disabled persons. Input was increased for law enforcement and monitoring and so was for the legal consulting and assistance. More assistance was given to the deputies of the People’s Congress and members of Political Consultative Conferences who were disabled persons themselves in engaging political decision-making and consulting process. The accessibility construction was made progress. The work of rights protection was carried out in an all round way.
By the end of 2007, 4 provinces and 40 cities completed the revision of local regulations on disabilities; 17 provinces and 48 cities formulated or amended their specific regulations and policies; 27 federations of disabled persons in the provinces and 74 in cities participated in the relevant legal process. 9 provinces, 126 cities and 758 counties formulated or amended pro-disability policies; and there were also some 53 provincial, 112 city and 687 county level policy instruments formulated for the rights protection of disabled persons.
People’s congress at and above county levels carried out inspection on law enforcement for 1317 times, including 8 times at provincial level, 163 at city level and 1,146 at county level. The Political Consultative Conferences at all levels carried out inspections and surveys for 1,173 times, including 14 times at provincial level, 127 times at city level and 1,032 times at county level. Coordination Committees on Disabilities at or above county levels carried special inspections for 1,885 times, including 25 times at provincial level, 204 times at city level and 1,656 times at county level.
In 2007, 6,608 times of law publicity and education activities were carried out, including 39 times at provincial level, 520 times at city level and 6,049 times at county level. 2,004 courses for legal education were organized for 310,000 participants, including 26 courses at provincial level for 1,140 participates, 200 at city level for more than 21,000 participants and 1,778 at county level for 285,000. 6.94 million copies of educational posters were published and distributed including 74,000 copies at provincial level, 1.557 million copies at city level and 5.309 million copies at county level. 903 courses for legal professionals were hold with 26,000 participants, including 16 courses at provincial level for 3,089 participates, 131 at city level of 3,152 and 756 at county level for over 20,000 persons. .
By the end of 2007, 2,677 legal aids centers were set up, handling over 20,000 cases of rights violation, including 25 centers at provincial level handling 451 cases, 282 at city level , dealing with 4,623 cases and 2,370 at county level dealing with 15,000 compliant cases. A total of 5,998 model rights protection units were awarded, dealing with 23,000 cases of rights violation, including 695 units at provincial level handling 713 cases, 539 at city level, dealing with 6,345 cases and 4,764 at county level dealing with 16,700 cases, greatly promoted the work of legal aids and services for disabled persons.
Disabled persons became more active in political consulting process. In 2007, 2,085 pieces of bills and proposals were made by congress deputies and members of political consultative conferences within disabled persons federation systems and handling with 1,478 relevant cases.
In 2007, access legislation and standards were further improved.
Relevant regulations and administrative decrees were issued by 6 provinces, 76cities and 350 counties. Among 11 provinces, 130 cities and 650 counties, coordination organizations on accessibility construction were set up. Access construction was carried out in comprehensive way in 827 cities and counties. 2,762 times of special inspections on access were carried out. 17,500 person/times received trainings on accessibility with 8,602 times of mass media coverage and distribution of 1.943 million pieces of posters distributed. All these set a sound foundation for the future work on accessibility.
In 2007, disabled persons organizations at provincial, city and county levels supported to component authorities in dealing with 124 cases of rights violation. The DPF organizations at all levels received 460,000 of compliant letters/persons in the year, including 76,000 letters, and 380,000 visitor/times, including 1,125 times of group complaints and 15,683 individual complaints.
VIII. Disabled Persons’ Organizations
Disable persons’ organization is a link between the government and disabled persons and an important guarantee for doing a good job for the disabled persons.
1. More disabled leaders and staffs were appointed.
In 2007, all 32 provincial federations had disabled persons as president or vice presidents and 37.5% of them had standing board members who were blind, 37.5 % of them had standing board members who were deaf. 40.8% of them had 15% staffs of disabled staffs.
Among 15 vice provincial level federations, 87.5% of them had disabled president or vice presidents in their offices and 25% of them had standing board members who were blind, 25 % of them had standing board members who were deaf.
Among 361 city level federations, 51.8% of them had disabled president or vice presidents in their offices.
Among 2917 count level federations, 46.4% of them had disabled staffs in their offices.
2. Grass-roots level organization were strengthened
A county-township-village three tiered network of organizations were further improved. 1,513 counties passed relevant evaluation, accounting for47.5% of total county number in the country.
39,000 towns elected and appointed 33,000 part-time workers with disabilities working at grassroots level associations; likewise, 560,000 villages and communities recruited 270,000 part-time workers.
3. Personnel training made progress.
At present, there were 94,000 paid staff within disabled persons federations at provincial, city, county and township levels. Personnel training turned out with a satisfactory achievement. In 2007, 21,000 training courses were organized for 265,000 person/times.
4. Structure and working mechanism of special association were improved.
Currently, there were 14,791 special associations of disabled persons across the country, including 3,021 of the blind, 2,997 of the deaf, 3,083 of the physically handicapped, 2,771of the intellectual disabled persons and their family members, 2,750 of the psychiatric disabled persons and their family members and 169 combined associations for intellectual and psychiatric disabled persons and their family members. 92.8 % of provinces and cities had special association and the number at county level was around 85 %.
IX. The Construction of Comprehensive Service Facilities for Persons with Disabilities
T The construction of comprehensive service facilities for persons with disabilities was further advanced, providing better conditions for the work for the disabled persons at grassroots levels. By end of 2007, there were 2,125 such facilities completed. Another 285 were still in construction, and 318 to be planed and built. Among them, 62 were provincial level facilities, with a total covering area of 496,000 square meters or 520,000 square meters built area, which attracted a total of investment of 1 billion RMB yuan; there were 237 prefecture level facilities, accounting for 71 % of total numbers of units at the same level, with a total area of 1.11 million square meters or 870,000 square meters construction area, which attracted a total of investment of 2.2 billion RMB yuan; there were 1,826 county level facilities, accounting for 64 % of total numbers of units at the same level, with a total area of 1.87 million square meters or 2.03 million square meters construction area, which attracted a total of investment of 3.6 billion RMB yuan.
XI. Information Technology and Application
By the end of 2007, there were 27 provincial and 350 city federations established websites. In this year, CDPF website received some 10,000 papers submitted by local federations. On average basis, the daily virtual volume of the website was around 70,000 pages and every day, the website was surfed by 8000 person/times and visited by 3200 persons.
|
Basic Information of People with Disabilities 2003-2007 from
“China Statistics Yearbook” |
|
Item |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
|
Rehabilitation |
Sight-restoring Cataract Surgeries (10000Cases) |
57.4 |
56.9 |
57.2 |
70.6 |
80 |
|
Free Cataract Surgeries for Poor Patients (10000cases) |
|
10.2 |
10.8 |
14.9 |
23 |
|
Vision-aids Provided for Individuals with Low-vision (persons) |
30932 |
32791 |
35575 |
32298 |
31607 |
|
No. of Blind People Who Got Orientation & Mobility Training (persons) |
|
|
|
6815 |
12224 |
|
Hearing and Speech Training for Children with Hearing Disability (persons) |
18465 |
19620 |
19765 |
19444 |
19869 |
|
Parents of children with Hearing Disability Trained (persons) |
20716 |
22276 |
23374 |
22322 |
26737 |
|
Prevention and Treatment of People with Psychiatric Disability (10,000 persons) |
243 |
257 |
274.3 |
348.8 |
433.9 |
|
No. of Autistic Children Trained (persons) |
|
|
|
750 |
1056 |
