10 replies to this topic

[Apparelyzed]

Paralympics boost for China's disabled

The Olympic Games will be followed by the Paralympics and, as the BBC's Jill McGivering reports from Kunming, if Chinese athletes perform well, it could help society address long-standing prejudice towards the disabled.

The large public swimming pool is crowded with early morning swimmers.

Twelve-year-old Qian Hong-yan comes here twice a day. She lost both legs in a car accident when she was a child.

On land she is confined to a wheelchair, but once she is in the water her swimming is agile and fast.

Her ambition is to represent China in the Paralympics in 2012. If she could win a gold medal, she says, she would make her parents very proud.

Her coach, Li Ke-qiang, understands better than most. He lost an arm but took silver and bronze medals for China in Athens.

He says that when the Chinese public see disabled athletes succeed in the Olympics, that might really change their image of disabled people.

"In the past," he said, "people despised the disabled. They thought they were all beggars, just asking for money."

"But now, when they see disabled swimmers like these, they can see how hard they're driving themselves. And that's a start."

'Pushed aside'

A sense of pride and achievement is important for everyone, but especially for China's disabled.

Many say they feel totally rejected by family members and the community. They speak of being labelled a burden and even of being blamed for their disability.

In a rehabilitation centre in Kunming was an attractive young woman called Zuo-ma. Now 24, she lost the use of her legs in a shooting accident at the age of 20 and uses a wheelchair.

The impact on her life was dramatic. Almost immediately after the accident, her husband decided to leave her, she said, and took their baby son with him. She felt so desperate, she tried to kill herself.

Now, four years later, talking about it quickly reduced her to tears.

Her story is not unusual.

Dr Rob Cheeley is the general director of "Bless China International", a non-governmental organisation that works with Yunnan's poor and with the disabled.

In under-developed and remote parts of China especially, he said, facilities for the disabled were minimal and social attitudes could be extremely harsh.

"The disabled are at the tail-end of society," he said. "They get what's left over. There are literally tens of thousands of people being pushed aside and kept in poverty."

"They can't go to school, they can't get married and they can't get a job. They're really social outcasts."

More compassionate

There are slow signs of progress.

Many in the Chinese government are now trying to provide more opportunities for the disabled, according to Dr Cheeley, and to challenge negative views.

One project, set up six years ago, provides work for the deaf or those with other disabilities. Called "Hearts and Hands", it is a small, friendly but basic operation.

Rows of women sit at sewing machines and craft tables making items for export to the West, from aprons and tablecloths to mobile phone covers and make-up bags.

They are paid an average of about 800 yuan a month (about US$115, £57).

The manager, Susan Wang, says it would be extremely difficult for these women to find jobs anywhere else.

It is a start - but projects like this are still extremely rare, especially in China's poorer provinces.

The competition for opportunity and new wealth in China is fierce, and the disabled tend to be excluded.

But there is some trickledown effect. As Chinese society gets richer, it is starting to get a little more compassionate as well.

Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.u...fic/7556652.stm

[Slowlegs]

I heard a lot of things like this from China, including the fact a paralympian was spat on there because of her disability a number of years back which is why she decided against going there to compete. Their human rights abuses have been abysmal. Hopefully the olympics will change things such as injustices against disabled people, people whose homes have been bulldozed to make way for the olympics venues and with little or no compensation, humane treatment of animals, etc, etc. Compared with Myanmar they seemed to be doing a better job after their earthquake at helping out their people which is a start. Perhaps they will also be keen on cutting back on pollution when they see what things can be like. It will be interesting to see if the pollution returns for the paralympics which will also indicate partly changing ideals re disability perhaps.

[Kev-O]

Thats a communist country for ya

[Webwych]

Did anyone see the handover ceremony today with the bus and the dancers? The two people in wheelchairs didn't look 'right' to me, just something about the way they held themselves. So I wasn't surprised when they jumped out of the wheelchairs and climbed up the bus!

That ticks me off a bit when I think there are plenty of genuine wheelchair dancers they could have employed for the handover show.

I'll be very interested to see if the BBC covers the Paralympics as as extensively as they did the Olympics.

[Kev-O]

Webwych, on Aug 24 2008, 07:38 PM, said:

Did anyone see the handover ceremony today with the bus and the dancers? The two people in wheelchairs didn't look 'right' to me, just something about the way they held themselves. So I wasn't surprised when they jumped out of the wheelchairs and climbed up the bus!

That ticks me off a bit when I think there are plenty of genuine wheelchair dancers they could have employed for the handover show.

I'll be very interested to see if the BBC covers the Paralympics as as extensively as they did the Olympics.

I just saw that. It does not bother me much. They had the right idea by having the people in the wheelchair

[Steviewo]

I doubt that the BBC coverage will be anywhere near extensive as the "Normo" Olympics! If i remember rightly from the last couple of times, there was a 30 minute highlight programme on BBC2 at about 6.00 pm each day.

[Steviewo]

Just had a look - it is more extensive than last timw - 7-8pm Monday to Friday, 12.50 - 4pm Sat & Sunday and also 10am - 4pm continuous live coverage on BBCi (i.e. interactive red button).

Big improvement - well done BBC.

http://www.bbc.co.uk...olympics4.shtml

[Webwych]

Steviewo, on Aug 25 2008, 10:11 AM, said:

Just had a look - it is more extensive than last timw - 7-8pm Monday to Friday, 12.50 - 4pm Sat & Sunday and also 10am - 4pm continuous live coverage on BBCi (i.e. interactive red button).

Big improvement - well done BBC.

http://www.bbc.co.uk...olympics4.shtml

Yes, that is a big improvement isn't it!?

I am looking forward to the Rugby

[HiltonP]

http://results.beiji...GL0000000.shtml

It would be interesting to have the author of the article above re-write her piece in light of the performances of Chinese disabled athletes in these Paralympics? At this time of writing the Chinese team has won more medals than the 2nd (UK) and 3rd (USA) places countries combined! Now I know someone will rush forward and point out their population size, but the article portrays China as being in the “disabled dark ages”. No country, no matter large, can win nearly 200 medals, 80+ of them gold, without having a pretty damn good disabled sports infrastructure. I’m no apologist for China’s politics, but their team’s performance has been nothing short of fantastic. If anything they have served to show up some of the supposedly 1st World countries who lay claim to 1st World services and facilities for disabled people. Countries like Belgium (only 1 medal), Ireland (4), Israel (6), Norway (7) to name but a few.

If anything, the original article should be changed to substitute “India” for “China”. India has been a major disappointment, the world’s largest “democracy”, the world’s 2nd largest population (just short of 1-billion people), with arguably the world’s largest disabled population (certainly amongst amputees), and not a single medal. In fact I could find little reference as to whether India even sent a team to the Paralympics?

Perhaps the author got her countries mixed up? . . .

[nomis]

Hey Hilton, that link takes me to an outdated medal table and no article.

I'm not fortunate enough to have visited china but I understand that parts of the country are up with western lifestyles and other areas lag behind in poverty. Whatever, disabled people do exist and flourish in China and I bet these games are having a big impact there.

There's been some good public reaction to the Games here in NZ. The murderball/rugby team didn't fire but we've got some new swimming heroes who getting pampered by the media.

[HiltonP]

Nomis . . . the article I was refering to was the one at the top of this thread (the original post). the link I posted was simply to show the medal count for the various countries. your guys are doing a great job promoting the Paralympics in NZ, we need to see more of that level of commitment, both from the athletes and the management. our SA team has done really well, makes our able-bods look like a real bunch of palookas!