How China's Special Education Law Impacts the Living Status of Individuals with Disabilities

IntroductionChina is the third largest country in the world. It has 23 provinces including four directcontrolled municipalities (Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and Chongqing), five autonomous regions (Tibet, Guangxi, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, and Ningxia), and two special administrative regions, namely Hong Kong and Macau. The twelve provinces located in the western part of China include the world's highest and biggest plateau (Tibetan plateau), China's biggest dessert (Xingjiang province) and grasslands (Inner Mongolia); they cover about half of the total land area of China, while less than one third of China's population live in these areas (China's West). More than two thirds of population lives in the southeastern part of China, where the economy is more developed and the majority of metropolitan areas are located.Every citizen in the People's Republic of China should receive a free, nine-year, compulsory education starting at age six. The five- or six-year elementary school education and threeyear junior high school education are compulsory education, while the three-year high school education is not. Besides, there are also agricultural or technical schools that are equivalent to the three-year senior high school education. In China early childhood education is not mandated. In eastern coastal areas where the economy is more developed and most metropolitan areas are located, there are more high quality preschools and kindergartens and there are some special facilities for young children with special needs, while in the rural, undeveloped western areas there are fewer early childhood facilities for preschoolers and kindergartners and no such special services available for young children with special needs. The free, nine-year compulsory education also applies to children with disabilities, who will be placed either in inclusive classrooms (suibanjiudu), special classes in regular schools, or special schools.As the most populous country around the world, China has a population of 1.3 billion, among whom 6.34% (82 million) are with different types of disabilities (China Network). This, however, reflects a lower prevalence of disabilities than in some other countries (Katsiyannis, Yell, and Bradley 288-99). This discrepancy results from the fact that learning disabilities, emotional behavioral disorders, language impairments and other health impairment are not considered as disability categories in China, while all of these have been considered disability categories in US and many European countries such as Holland and Poland (Deng, Poon-McBrayer, and Farnsworth 288-99; Qian). According to China Network, among those with disabilities, 12 million or 14.86% were diagnosed with visual impairment, 20 million or 24.1% with hearing impairment, 1.2 million or 1.5% with language impairment, 24 million or 29% with physical disabilities, making it the largest disability group, 5.5 million or 6.68% with mental retardation, 6.1 million or 7.4% with emotional disorders, and 13 million or 16.3% with multiple disabilities. These figures are suspect. There is "a lack of diagnostic technologies and experienced professionals" (Deng, Poon-McBrayer, and Farnsworth 293) in China and the diagnostic instruments adopted in China have cultural biases.According to the 2008 National Report on the Living Status of the Disabled in China (Office of China's Disability Union, Institute of Studies on Population at Beijing University, National Statistics Institute), the inclusion of 6 to 15- year-olds with disabilities in regular classrooms has remained unchanged in 2008 in comparison to 2007 (see Table 1). So is the inclusion of 6 to 18-year-olds with disabilities in general elementary, junior and senior high schools. However, the enrollment of 6 to18- year-olds with disabilities in special education schools or special education classrooms in regular schools has increased from 5.0% in 2007 to 6.2% in 2008 nationwide (see Table 2). Besides education, the access to health care and social life has also increased in recent years. …