More empathy required to improve lives of disabled

Sunday marks the 31st National Day for the Disabled in China. This year’s theme is “Improving the life quality of disabled people, and consolidating the poverty-alleviation efforts for them”, which calls for helping those with disabilities raise their incomes and solving their problems in daily life.

According to China Disabled Persons’ Federation, the total number of people living with disabilities in China has exceeded 85 million, or about one 1/16th of the total population. They are equal members of society, yet many of them lead rather difficult lives and face more difficulties than others.

By the end of 2020, the 7 million registered impoverished disabled residents had been lifted out of poverty on schedule, which represents huge progress in China’s protection of disabled people’s rights. However, as the State Council Information Office said in a 2019 white paper, the disabled population still lags behind the rest of society, and there is still much to do to eliminate discrimination against them and better protect their equal rights.

Besides economic help, there is much that can be done to make life more convenient for those with disabilities. For the past months there are several typical cases, such as a disabled person applying for a teacher’s job failing the health check in Chongqing municipality, because the local health requirements exclude disabled persons. And in many cities the paths for the blind on the sidewalk are illegally occupied by parked cars.

Such things show how much pressure disabled people have to face in their daily lives. To solve them, it is necessary for various government agencies to consider things from the angle of disabled people, so as to know their needs and their difficulties. Is the sidewalk for the blind smooth and clear from obstacles? Is there a toilet for the disabled in public facilities? Such questions need an answer.

Besides these, those with disabilities also face challenges finding jobs, they need a pension when they reach the retirement age, and they should be treated equally as others on these issues.

One frequently asked question is why we see so few disabled people in public, even though they account for 1/16th of the population? That’s because there are still many facilities and policies needed to improve access for the disabled.

More needs to be done to help the disabled enjoy equal access to everything like other members of the society.