China Daily Global Edition (USA)
INCLUSIVE EDUCATION
y dream is to be a soldier safeguarding my country,” says 13-year-old schoolboy A Yongzhi.
However, due to a hereditary limb condition, he is unlikely to grow as tall as his peers.
Yongzhi is one of 18 disabled children at Anding Primary School in Jingdong Yi autonomous county of Southwest China’s Yunnan province. He is popular and known for his frequent laughter but secretly scared of mockery from his classmates.
Since he joined a photography class, he has become more confident.
One day in late 2016, Yongzhi’s father was told that his son had been selected to join a photography class. His father was astonished, as Yongzhi had never seen a smartphone before, let alone a camera.
Photography can be difficult for disabled children, who are physically or mentally challenged. More often than not, they need special instructions and extra tutoring after school.
Liu Yuyang, a freelance photographer who was awarded the Magnum Foundation’s Photography and Human Rights Fellowship in 2014, does not view disability as a deficit that needs fixing. He says children are born equal, and they are entitled to look for the beauty of life whether they are physically disadvantaged or not.
Liu contacted Save the Children, a global organization for child development and protection, which has successfully piloted inclusive education programs in China for years, to use his expertise to help disabled children.
After a two-month preparation, he started his class, which has three disabled and three able-bodied children, a perfect model of inclusive education, where children can learn from each other.
From January to September last year, the 25-year-old photographer offered the students several sessions running from two to five days. Photo exposure, composition and other techniques were taught in the class. Sometimes they went to the countryside to practice shooting, and Liu would leave cameras for his students after class to let them express their artistic talents freely.
“I also organized photo exhibitions to encourage their artistic exchanges and peer review,” Liu says.
“In the process, they learned how to participate and share. Sometimes the work could be done only by cooperation.”
Yongzhi surprised his teacher with his people-focused photographs — elderly women shepherding, schoolgirls playing basketball and men walking donkeys. His images show harmony between motion and stillness.
Another student, 7-year-old Lu Youlin, took pictures of his elder brother on a pathway near their home.
The photography class is part of China’s experiment in inclusive education over the past five years.
“Whether in cities or the countryside, the best way for disabled children to be integrated into mainstream society is by receiving education in mainstream schools,” says Wang Xingxing, a project manager from Save the Children.
Wang has cerebral palsy since birth. In the 1980s, when most disabled children did not get the chance at normal schools because of a lack of physical access and specialist facilities, she sat in the same classes as her able-bodied peers.
“Had I not shared the experience of studying and living with normal children, I wouldn’t have accommodated in mainstream society as quickly,” she says.
Special schools are still prevalent, given their specific care and skill training tailored for disadvantaged children, especially those with severe impairment. Yet a report by Save the Children said students in such schools get stuck in a restricted environment and find it hard to be accepted by society once they leave school.
“Disabled people can scarcely be understood properly due to the lack of communication with able-bodied people. They might get discriminated in job interviews and questioned about their ability to do normal work,” says Xie Renci, a disability rights activist, who lost her right leg in a car accident at age 4.
Xie was impressed by the photos. “They are equally good. Children are not judged by their IQ or physical capability,” she says.
China is speeding up its reform of the special education system. In 2015, the Ministry of Education confirmed 37 regions and districts as experimental areas for national special education reform, supporting them with policy, finance and special projects.
In May 2017, China released newly revised regulations on educating people with disabilities, making general education the main method, with special education complementary. This means that there will be more disabled children attending regular schools, with special education teachers providing assistance to them.
Yet challenges remain. Teachers from normal schools often express concern over the extra responsibility of taking on disabled children.
“A little accident that hurts these children will result in serious complaints and warnings from their parents. You know, it is quite normal for children to run around, but what if the disabled children get hurt?” says one teacher, wishing to remain anonymous.
From 2009 to 2015, Save the Children managed to pilot inclusive education projects at primary schools in Sichuan and Yunnan provinces and the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, transforming old special schools into resource centers that train teachers and parents. Now it is working to encourage more teachers from special schools to reach out to disabled children in regular schools.
Wang Xingxing says that teachers should empower students with respect and support, and recalls the support she had at school one winter’s day.
“The snow was nearly knee-deep. My PE teacher worried about me so much that he proposed to carry me home on his back. But my class director offered to walk me home. So we stumbled all the way back home hand-in-hand, taking much longer time than usual.”
To eliminate discrimination and raise public awareness, Wang calls upon not only teachers but also people like Liu to run multidisciplinary classes in schools.
Wang says that in the future disabled children and able-bodied children sitting in the same classroom will become common.
Yongzhi’s father was once pessimistic about his son’s future, but after the exhibition organized by Liu where he saw his son’s pride in photography, he is now upbeat. After the exhibition, Liu also asked the students about their dreams and got various responses — from wanting to be a teacher to a soldier. Liu is inspired by their ambition. “Whether disabled or not, their dreams are pure and lovely. Every dream needs to be respected. So I wish to organize a photo exhibition tour for them in the hope that one day their photos and stories will travel around the globe.”
13, a boy in the photography class, impresses both teachers and classmates with his laughter and peoplefocused photos.