Family Care of People with Intellectual Disability in Rural China: A Magnified Responsibility

Abstract

Family care for people with intellectual disability in rural China has been increasingly challenged by the forces of labour migration, demographic changes and the ever-growing processes of commoditization. The role of the state has to be strengthened in welfare provision to balance the weakened family care ethos in transforming societies.

100 years from now: comparing parental perspectives about supports for adults with autism in the USA and China

“…They worried constantly and wished for a place that they trusted and that would accept their children or even for a place where they could move in together with their children. These findings reflect the conclusions drawn in a study by Pan and Ye (2015), which found that adults with intellectual disabilities typically lived with their families and had limited access to existing services. Similar to Guo et al (2014), the participants in the present study were interested in finding residential options for their children, but not satisfied with the very limited amount, that is available.…”

“…In both the USA and China, many adults with autism live with and continue to receive care from their parents well into middle or older adulthood (Hendricks and Wehman, 2009; Pan and Ye, 2015). In the USA, the residential landscape is complex, with funded residential arrangements taking various forms.…”

“…In China, most parents of children with developmental disabilities – especially in rural areas – actively care for their adult children until they are simply too old or unwell to continue (Pan and Ye, 2015). Few residential services exist in China, so often it is “[o]nly when they have no family does the government provide support [for someone with a disability], in the form of institutional care” (Fisher and Li, 2008, p. 171).…”

“…Furthermore, governmental financial benefits (e.g. rural and urban subsistence allowances and stipends for those identified as having more severe “Level 1” or “Level 2” disabilities) are increasingly but not universally available and almost never sufficiently cover peoples’ most basic needs (Fisher and Li, 2008; Pan and Ye, 2015). In much the same way that Chinese families do not have other options than for their adult children to continue to live with them as long as is possible, parents also often rely on informal networking and their own personal resources to meet their children’s daytime support needs (McCabe and Wu, 2009).…”

A Look at the Tradition of Lack of Accommodating of Citizens with Disabilities in The People’s Republic of China

“…They deserve to be taking care by the society. (Pan, L., & Ye, J. 2015) The number of disabled citizens in Guangzhou exceeds 500,000 and a disabled citizens prevention work plan will be launched this year.…”