Editor's Note: This year marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the National People’s Congress. The People’s Congress system, a great creation of the Chinese people in the history of political systems, serves as an important institutional vehicle for realizing whole-process people's democracy in China, where the well-being of people with disabilities is paid particular attention to. Bridging News reporter conducts in-depth interviews in Southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality to find out more about this group's employment and entrepreneurship, accessible environment as well as human rights protection.

A rehabilitation therapist gives a class to a child at Chang Simin's rehab institution in Dadukou District, Chongqing, on September 9, 2024. (Photo/Tan Xinyu)

Chongqing - When Chang Simin's daughter, who has Down syndrome, was young and the family struggled to find a nearby rehab facility, Chang began to consider starting one herself.

In 2014, when her daughter was 12, Chang established a rehabilitation and care institution in Dadukou district, Chongqing. Chang said that having a special child herself, she deeply empathized with other families in similar situations.

Chang emphasized that the institution's goal was not for profit but to serve more children with special needs, hoping for their progress through support from parents and institutions.

Ms. Yan, who lives near Chang's rehabilitation institution, no longer has to choose between teaching at home and daily commuting to a rehabilitation institution for her 13-year-old son with cerebral palsy. For privacy concerns, Yan only gives her surname.

Yan's son is one of the beneficiaries of the institution. "Because of his cerebral palsy, when he came to the institution at around 11 years old, he couldn't manage stairs on his own. After the physical training at the institution, he now has no problem running up and down the stairs by himself," said Chang.

Rehabilitation therapists give a class to children at Chang Simin's rehab institution in Dadukou District, Chongqing, on September 9, 2024. (Photo/Tan Xinyu)

Community and government rehab aid

Chang's institution now has fifty to sixty children who need special care, including those with intellectual disabilities, language development delays, cerebral palsy, autism, respiratory disorders, Down syndrome, Rett syndrome, and Angelman syndrome.

Chang's rehab institution is a government-approved specialized facility for intellectual rehabilitation in Chongqing. Eligible children receiving rehabilitation here can benefit from an annual subsidy of 20,000 yuan ($2,810.66).

Compared to some institutions that charge over 10,000 yuan per month, Chang's fee is 3,500 yuan each month, covering full-day care with individual and group classes. Daily lunch costs an extra 5 yuan per meal, totaling just over 100 yuan a month. Meals typically include three dishes and one soup.

"Our revenue mostly goes toward covering the institution's rent, staff salaries, and other operational expenses, with no intention of making a profit. The children at our facility are generally referred by other parents, and we do not have the budget for advertising," said Chang.

However, according to Chang, the Dadukou District Disabled Persons' Federation in Chongqing has recognized Chang's efforts. The Federation will also assist in promoting and introducing Chang's rehab institution to raise awareness among more people.

Chang admitted that some children with language development delays can return to normal life as quickly as three months after rehabilitation training. However, achieving normalcy through rehabilitation remains very difficult for others.

"Some children may never develop language even with lifelong training. If the outcomes are not what parents hoped for after working on a child's cognition, understanding, and emotions, we need to change our approach. At that point, it's best to focus on developing life skills, helping the child progress from needing care to being able to care for themselves and even assist others."

Due to the subsidy, Yan's son now attends two classes per day at Chang's institution for free each year, but he is approaching the maximum eligible age of 14. Since Yan's son is unable to care for himself and requires constant supervision, Yan, as a single mother, is unable to work and relies solely on the subsistence allowance to support her family.

Regarding her son's future, Yan said that once he turns 14 and no longer qualifies for free rehabilitation, he will have to stay home. "He doesn't even know which floor he's on when he goes out; how can he navigate outside and integrate into society?"

However, Yan is more worried about her son and herself geing older. If she becomes ill and her son also needs care, even simple tasks like buying groceries might become difficult.

Chang has also considered the future lives of these special children. She said that, in addition to improving rehabilitation for younger children, the institution aims to expand its services to include training in life skills and other areas for older children.

Furthermore, Chang suggested that the government should establish specialized nursing homes for these individuals with special needs.

According to the data from the China Disabled Persons' Federation, by the end of 2023, there were 12,463 rehabilitation institutions for disabled individuals nationwide, with 360,000 staff members employed at these institutions.

Pressing need for better accessible communication in the judicial field

Tang Shuai, known as the "first sign language lawyer in China", learned sign language to communicate with his hearing-impairment parents and help them with daily challenges, despite hearing himself.

While working as a sign language interpreter for the police, Tang noticed many wrongful cases involving hearing-impairment individuals. He took the judicial exams and became a full-time lawyer, focusing part of his practice on legal cases involving the deaf and hard of hearing.

Tang's law firm offers extensive services for the deaf and hard of hearing, including litigation and non-litigation services and handling police and court matters. Since these individuals often struggle to report incidents themselves, his firm also handles their reports and civil mediation work.

Communication remains the biggest challenge in judicial work. In China, sign language is divided into natural and national, with inconsistent standards and translations. Tang said that while some relevant departments are making efforts to address this issue, it is still in the early stages.

"Addressing this communication issue isn't as simple as providing sign language interpreters as required by current laws or practices," he added. "We also need to ensure that hearing-impairment individuals can understand the sign language used by these interpreters and achieve truly barrier-free communication."

Tang warned that if these hearing-impaired individuals cannot understand the sign language used by interpreters and the interpreters cannot effectively communicate with them, often both sides have to rely on guessing or other methods, which can lead to inaccurate results and potentially impact fairness in legal proceedings.

Due to the communication barriers, hearing-impairment individuals often find it difficult to access information from society. They are typically in a relatively isolated state and are unable to obtain beneficial knowledge, such as legal information, from others or society, Tang noted.

Enhanced support and inclusion for people with disabilities

Still, Tian Ye, an entrepreneur and a hearing-impairment individual in Chongqing, said that the country's development has brought him many conveniences over the past years, and society's tolerance and support for hearing-impairment individuals have increased significantly.

He recalled that as a child, he was afraid of missing his stop on the bus. "In the past, I often missed my stop because I couldn't hear the announcements and sometimes struggled to get out due to misunderstandings of my sign language. With text announcements on buses, I can see the stop names in advance and wait by the door, making travel much more convenient."

Tian said that when he used sign language in the past, people would watch him like a monkey and even use impolite terms like "deaf-mute." This caused him a lot of distress.

"Now, once on a bus, while chatting with a friend in sign language, a child asked his mother what we were doing. The mother naturally explained that we had a hearing disability without hiding or making strange faces."

He also noted when he faced difficulties on the street in the past, he would write notes to ask hearing people for help, but these people often felt scared or avoided him. "Now, with smartphones, I can type messages to communicate, and the people's acceptance has greatly improved."

Individuals with disabilities who need basic care can also enroll in long-term care insurance and access related services.

On August 25, Chongqing Municipal Medical Insurance Bureau announced that long-term care insurance covers all districts and counties in the city.

"Long-term care insurance, in simple terms, is an important mechanism introduced to address population aging and improve the social security system, primarily providing basic care services for individuals with long-term disabilities," said a representative from the bureau.

Since 2019, Chongqing has piloted long-term care insurance. Currently, about eight million people are enrolled, and nearly 40,000 have received benefits.

(Qi Xiaofang, as an intern, also contributed to this report.)