Disability in Contemporary China

Abstract

With a few exemptions scholarly work is not located in terms of geography. The metropole is not named. The issues matter: education, employment, care, the theory matters: normalization, social model/medical model, postmodernism, but the where does not matter. Only those positioned outside the metropole need to make their geopolitical position clear. (Meekosha, 2008: 2) While this is understandably frustrating for those of us working outside 'the metropole' as we must continually clarify our geographical focus

Toward a designated pathway: Disabled students’ ambivalent educational desire in China’s national college entrance exam.

“…Wu, 2016). Under this ideology of state humanitarianism (S. Huang, 2021), students with profound sensory impairments who were previously deprived of educational opportunities are sheltered in special schools, where they are equipped with life skills and vocational skills to become self-reliant, productive para-citizens (Dauncey, 2020). These protective policy discourses about special education still prevail in today's China, justifying the continuation and expansion of segregated special schooling as an indispensable policy pillar to protect children and youth with disabilities without acknowledging its exclusionary policy impacts.…”

“…Huang & Chen, 2022; Ma & Ni, 2020) by providing a grounded theory account arising from the lived experiences and voices of disabled students, teachers, and activists in the special education system. The case of disability in China’s higher education system also contributes to the burgeoning field of critical disability studies in China (Cockain, 2016; Dauncey, 2020; S. Huang et al, 2023; Z.…”

“…Traditionally, one of the most influential sociocultural forces that shaped the meaning of disability in China was the moral philosophy of Confucianism, which stemmed from the imperial period and still has far-reaching impacts in contemporary Chinese society. Under Confucian thinking, disabled bodies/minds are handled under the mandate of paternalistic benevolence (ren), which sees empathy and compassion for the vulnerable and misfortunate (i.e., disabled people) as the core ethics of the hierarchical Confucian society (Dauncey, 2020). This moral philosophy continues to influence social attitudes and governmental policy about disability in today's China, particularly from the 1980s, a period in which disability policy has been systematically formulated along with the international biomedical and human rights expansion of disability (Kohrman, 2005).…”