Part 4 Young disability rights activists

Author: Anonymous

1. Landscape of the activist communities

The young disability rights activists covered in this report include people with disabilities working in registered civil society organisations, representative organisations of people with physical and mental disabilities and social enterprises, students with physical and mental disabilities in higher education, and people with disabilities in social networks who are actively involved in issues of equality.

In 2014, a middle-aged blind person Li Jinsheng was allowed to take part in the National College Entrance Exam (NCEE) with Braille question papers. Although Li’s results were not satisfactory because he had difficulty reading braille, accessible exam formats were gradually promoted across the country because of civil society’s effort and the positive feedback from the Ministry of Education. NCEE and Self-taught Higher Education Examination (STHEE) started to provide electronic and large-print question papers, allowed for exam time extension, and allowed students to use optical devices and hearing aids. These policies provided more opportunities for students with disabilities to attain higher education.

In this context, some people with disabilities excelled in the isolated education system that has little accessibility support, and gradually became the important forces among the young activists. Compared to the wider community, they received higher education. After joining civil society trainings, they had more opportunity to communicate with other communities on the internet. They also actively formed connections with young academics. As role models in mainstream society, some activists were endorsed by their schools. More students facing challenges in their studies also reached out to these activists for help. Some activists would provide people who need help with information about communicating with schools. Some would provide help through their own network, such as media, civil society groups and veteran advocates.

2. Models of activism and organising

How young disability rights activists choose their issues and activism format was largely influenced by the disability’s rights situation and civil society space in China.

First of all, in recent years, the Chinese government has tight control over the civil society. This control set restrictions on the source of funding and space for activities for organisations representing people with disabilities. Rights-based groups in the accessibility sector were on the verge of disbandment. Under the pressure of government and self-censorship, most of the groups adopted the development strategy of focusing on service delivery and less on rights. Although some larger organisers had the opportunity of coordinating with local governments on case support and participating in policy making, the threshold for adopting this approach was extremely high for small organisations and individuals. 

Apart from that, rights of people with disabilities is not a political issue in China. Communities with disabilities were no doubt the more vulnerable groups among the marginalized communities. The governments’ tolerance on the discussions of the related issues indicated its sympathy towards the vulnerable groups and awareness of peoples’ livelihood issues. The central and local China Disabled Persons Federation controlled the grassroots communities with disabilities and their representing organisation through providing welfare for individuals and buying services from social organisations. Apart from that, the Chinese government continued to use the developmental narrative to reshape human rights issues. This effort was particularly obvious in the discussions of disability rights issues. For example, the government responded to the structural injustices faced by communities with disabilities with alleviating and eradicating poverty. These official narratives also reduced rights-based discussions of accessibility topics in mainstream society.

Although from 2010 to 2014 there was active advocacy of rights of people with disabilities in China, young disability rights activists very seldom took action against the government. This is because many organisations were forced to close down. There was a lack of inter-generational exchange among activists. Moreover, the model of activism adopted by existing core organisations in the field limited the imagination of young people with disabilities on rights-based actions. Most of the young activists instead provided peer support. Specifically, these networks were formed by a few young people with disabilities who were experienced and interested in related issues. Using We media as their base, their model of activism predominantly included passing down of experiences, increasing rights awareness, and showing solidarity online. These actions impacted the larger communities with disability. This is the main characteristic of young disability rights activists that this report will discuss. Moreover, during the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, these young activists also provided direct services to respond to the urgent needs of the communities.

This section will provide observation and discussion on the two main issues in the activism of young disability rights activists in 2020, namely how young disability rights activists responded to the pandemic and its impact, and the continuous call for the right to higher education. This report will also discuss activists using multiple identities to join sporadic activism for disability and gender issues.

(1)  Combatting pandemic activism

In early 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic broke out in Wuhan. In the early morning on 23 January, Wuhan went into a full lockdown, followed by over a dozen of cities in Hubei province, including Huanggang city and Xiaogan city. Due to the lack of support for accessible information and effective community care, people with disabilities were in the most vulnerable situation since the outbreak of the pandemic. As experts who best understood inaccessibility, young disability rights activists used their own experiences to participate in different combatting pandemic activism.

Some young activists realised that lockdown caused inconvenience to the daily lives of people with disabilities. They started to discuss the experience of people with disabilities on we media. Activists in Wuhan and other areas responded swiftly. They started to provide information about pandemic prevention in sign language and did text transformation for people with visual and hearing impairment. On 29 January, Yan Cheng, a youngster with Cerebral Palsy living in a village in Huanggang city, Hubei province, whose family were compulsory quarantined because they showed signs of contracting Covid-19. Yan could not take care of himself and was starved to death at home because he lacked caretaking. This incident, after being reported in the news, attracted a lot of attention from young disability rights activists and groups representing people with disabilities. Some advocates who were experienced in activism called for the establishment of volunteer networks, to which many responded. “Combatting pandemic network of volunteers with disabilities” immediately started and launched their work.

“Combatting pandemic network of volunteers with disabilities” comprised of workers from charities, social service organisations and organisations representing people with disabilities. Different civil society forces such as grassroots volunteers and young disability rights activists were also part of the network. In a short period of time, the network started to assess the needs of people with disabilities during the pandemic. They initiated support groups that focused on different needs and provided protective equipment, psychosocial support and stay-home exercise guide. They also purchase daily necessities for the communities, issued online medical service passes and provided other services. Activists in the “Combatting pandemic volunteer network” shared similarities with self-organised disaster relief volunteers. The aim of their activism was to swiftly respond to the specific needs of communities with disabilities in quarantine zones. Apart from that, communities and networks of young people with disabilities also organises and summarized news reports that covered the pandemic and people with disabilities, and activism organised by groups representing people with disabilities. By being vocal on the internet, these activists increased the visibility of communities with disabilities in an emergency state.

Due to the lack of information accessibility, people with visual and hearing impairment, deaf people, and people with mental disabilities remained vulnerable when receiving information. After the pandemic broke out, young communities with disabilities, among their own groups, made up for the shortcomings of the public health departments by exercising and realising information equality. They provided information to people with disabilities who have different needs. For example, they promptly translated pandemic-related information, produced guidelines on pandemic prevention, and created as well as translated images and texts.

On social media, groups formed by young people with disabilities criticised the government for not providing pandemic-related information in sign language and closed caption. These young people also summarised international standards and overseas experiences. Du Yinling is a young person with disabilities who fought for the equal rights for people with disabilities to participate in teachers qualification examinations. On the eve of Lunar New Year, she recorded a sign language video with community members that went viral on platforms including Weibo and WeChat. Many volunteer groups combatting the pandemic shared the video. 37 million people had watched the video. Social enterprise Know Deaf created 35 videos in sign language during the pandemic. Among the people with hearing impairment and deaf people that Know Deaf reached, these videos reduced the impact of inaccessible information.

At the outbreak of the pandemic, a charity group working for deaf people immediately realised that a lot people with hearing impairment and deaf people could not critically analyse information. As a result these people tended to believe rumours, underestimated the severity of the pandemic, or purchased non-essential protective equipment because of delayed information. Young people with disabilities in the group asked deaf people their needs one by one using sign language. These activists also advocated for donation and dissemination of resources for the deaf communities. Another online group of young people with disabilities held online discussions about information accessibility. They raised the rights awareness of the communities by inviting deaf people and researchers on accessibility to educate the communities about information equality.

Apart from that, a member of “Combatting pandemic network of volunteers with disabilities”, who is also an illustration artist, used comics to create guidelines on pandemic prevention with simple images and texts. The guidelines helped explain to children with special education needs how Covid-19 spreads, the correct ways to wear masks, and the correct ways to wash hands. A group formed by a number of blind university students realised that pandemic-related information on new media is usually presented in forms of visualised images and charts. They therefore provided text translation for people with visual impairment.       

Apart from that, an online community of youth with disabilities conducted emancipatory research. Based on the experience and needs of people with disabilities, these young people reflected on policies related to combating and preventing the pandemic. They also provided recommendations on the provision of services and support in response to similar emergency situation in the future. The research also included the elderly communities, who also experienced inconveniences in life and had chronic medical needs. This is different from the past activism models adopted by their communities. In the past their communities usually provided peer support by collecting stories, sharing experiences and inviting professionals to disseminate knowledge on disability rights. This is the first time the communities developed more professional research and implemented small research project.

(2)  Calling for the equal right to higher education

The existing rights activism focuses on advocating rights to partake in examination. This means that the advocates shared some connections with young activists who took part in NCEE. Young activists either benefited from the reasonable accommodations demanded by more experienced advocates, or sought help from experienced activists when they experienced problems when taking examinations. These young activists might also have faced injustices in the higher education sector when pursing more advanced studies overseas. They might also receive requests for help from younger students, who see these young activists as seniors with experiences. Therefore, when these activists became the core forces of young disability rights activists, they were also passionate about education equality.

In 2020, an online network of young disability rights activists applied for reasonable accommodations when taking STHEE. When communicating with the examination authorities, the network asked for advice from veteran activists. The network also provided an example for others by sharing their experience of applying for reasonable accommodations and taking the exam. During the NCEE season, a blind person once again become a NCEE legend and received attention from mainstream media. Veteran activists actively promoted in-depth discussions. A few people with disabilities who took NCEE for the first time gave media interviews, and, by engaging public discussion, called for NCEE equality. NCEE equality includes the right to receive and enrol in accessible higher education. Before the graduate school admission exam in November, a university told a blind person that the university could not provide support on education and therefore did not recommend the person to apply for the school. A mainstream organisation representing people with disabilities intervened in this case in a high-profile manner. The case received media attention. A graduate student with disabilities who participated in NCEE for students with no disabilities published an article on we media to show solidarity, criticizing universities for putting the clock back.

Inclusion of universities with disabilities on campus had received more attention from network of young people with disabilities and mainstream organisation representing people with disabilities, such as Sheng Bo. Some young people with disabilities participated in NCEE for students with no disabilities and received support from Jinmangzhang programme when they were in university. These young people trained university-bound students and provided support to younger students with visual impairment. At the same time, an online community of youth with disabilities also supported students with disabilities. 2020 was the third year that the community provided this type of support. Students with different disabilities received help. As former university students, members of the community provided experiences of studying and living in universities. They also provided strategies and advice for communicating with universities about reasonable accommodation. The founder of “Combatting pandemic network with volunteers with disabilities” also collaborated with the network. They applied for small-sum projects from local foundation to develop work on accessibility on campus.

(3)  Exploring intersectional issues

In 2020, young disability rights activists also explored issues that share similarities with physical and mental disabilities or intersectional issues. These explorations included examining the rights of the elderly during the pandemic, discussing the sexual and reproductive rights of women with disabilities using short animation, and discussing the multiple identities of sexual minorities with disabilities. As discussed above, in a pioneering research project, young activists also accessed the needs of the elderly in pandemic control and provided recommendations. A young person with disabilities with experiences in producing videos co-created a short animation with feminist activists after joining an online feminist public school network. The animation examined the sexual needs of women in wheelchair. On the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia, Intersex-phobia and Biphobia (IDAHOTIB), an online community of youth with disabilities and some LGBT people published an article on we media. The article focused on the intersectional issues of physical and mental disabilities and sexual minorities. It summarized the similarities and intersectionality of the two. It also called for more people to pay attention to the situation of these communities.

3. Political control and repression

In 2008, the United Nations published the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Chinese government was one of the first to sign the Convention. The disabilities rights issues in China received attention from the international community. Therefore, charity organisations that work on related issues received more resources. From 2009 to 2014, there was active advocacy activism for physical and mental disabilities rights in China. The activism included strategies such as community’s mobilization, street actions, and policy advocacy. These strategies started the advocacy work on issues such as accessibility, employment and education. They received attention from communities with disabilities and mainstream media.

Since 2014, although the government still discussed disabilities rights issues under the narrative framework of poverty alleviation and integrated development, the official attitude towards civil society advocacy organisations had become intolerant. Influential advocacy organisations in the field of disabilities rights almost no longer existed. Other groups that worked on disabilities issues also gradually transformed to develop social services, set up social enterprises and promote sense of belonging in the communities. They were gradually accepted by the mainstream society and avoided the political risks.

Currently, young disability rights activists very rarely develop large-scale resistance movement. Most of them adopted more mild ways of peer support to conduct activities and cultural discussions online. Therefore, they seldom received pressure from the government. Some actions related to disabilities held as student association activities even received support from universities. In the past, local governments have harassed some disability rights activists because they participated in activists organised by overseas NGOs. These activists were not harassed for participating in activities related to disabilities issues. Also, authorities did not stop these activists from participating in other activities related to disabilities issues.

4. Reflection of the challenges and future facing the movement

The major challenge facing young disability rights activists is the lack of an environment conducive to rights-oriented activism.

In the field of pursuing equality for people with disabilities, there was no resistance movement like the #metoo movement, which was de-centralised and brought enlightenment to many people. There was no strong-willed community leader that stood out in the movement. Unlike the LGBT movement, there was also no core rights advocacy groups that gave directions to the movement and provided good examples of activism.

As mentioned above, in such a stagnant environment, young disability rights activists mostly got in touch with and participated in activities that provided community support. These activists lacked imagination in the strategy and goals of rights movement. The systemic reform in their eyes would be mostly led by the government or achieved through to coordination between groups representing people with disabilities and local governments. Although some activists openly spoke up to provide support for cases involving people with disabilities, and provided recommendations to the institutions, the strength was limited. It was difficult to congregate a louder voice and cause impact on the rights-based demands for institutional changes. Fortunately, regarding peer support activism, currently the young activists could still effectively use existing resources and network to disseminate experiences and information within and outside the country. They could also raise public awareness on equal rights. However, these were all that they could do.

Perhaps, in the long run, it is not detrimental to the equal rights movement that a few activists are now gradually exploring within a limited space. On the contrary, when providing assistance to young activists with lower risk mitigation capacity, external forces may adversely impact young disability rights activists and their communities if these forces do not consider the vulnerability of activists facing the authorities. These external forces may even dampen the activist’s keenness to participate in activism. In the future, it would be great to have more opportunities for activists in the country to learn about the hands-on experiences of people in the same field overseas. This can inspire their imagination for activism.