The People

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The Peoples Republic of China
Ryan, Michelle, Stacia, Brandon, Adrianne
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General Background Information

• Government Chinese Communist
• Party PresidentHU Jintao
• Vice PresidentZENG Qinghong
• SizeTotal 9,596,960 sq km
• Population1.3 billion people
• (22 of total world population)
• Disabled population 83 million people
• (6.34 of the total Chinese population)

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Communist Government

• After World War II, China established an
  autocratic socialist system.
• Imposed strict controls over everyday life and
  cost the lives of tens of millions of people.
• After 1978, China focused on market-oriented
  economic development.
• Living standards have improved dramatically and
  the room for personal choice has expanded.
• Political controls remain extremely tight.

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Nature of Disabilities in China
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China Disabled Peoples Performing Arts Troupe
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China Disabled Persons Federation

• Aims
• Promote humanitarianism
• Protect human rights
• Ensure equal participation in society
• Contribution to economic growth/social
  development
• Equalize share in culture achievements

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China Disabled Persons Federation

• Tasks
• Unity and encouragement
• Advocacy
• Development and promotion
• Prevention
• Assisting the government
• International cooperation

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Law of the Peoples Republic of China on the
Protection of Disabled Persons

• Adopted in 1990 at the Seventh National Peoples
  Congress
• Signed by President Yang Shangkun
• Law implemented on May 15, 1991
• Nine Total Chapters with a total of 54 articles
• The Chinese equivalent to the Americans with
  Disabilities Act of 1990.

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CHINESE DISABILITY LAW

• Chapter IV Employment
• Article 27. Responsibilities
• The state shall protect disabled persons right to
  work.
• Peoples governments at various levels shall
  formulate overall plans on employment of disabled
  persons and create conditions for their
  employment.

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CHINESE DISABILITY LAW

• Article 28. Guiding Principles
• Employment of disabled persons shall follow the
  principle of combining concentrative arrangement
  with dispersed arrangement.
• Preferential policies and measures of support and
  protection shall be adopted with a view to
  gradually popularize, stabilize and rationalize
  employment of disabled persons through multiple
  channels, at a variety of levels and in a variety
  of forms

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CHINESE DISABILITY LAW

• Article 29. Concentrative Employment
• The state and society shall set up welfare
  enterprises for disabled persons,
  work-rehabilitation centres, Tuina-massage
  hospitals and clinics and other enterprises and
  institutions of a welfare nature as a way of
  providing concentrative employment for disabled
  persons.

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CHINESE DISABILITY LAW

• Article 30. Dispersed Employment
• The state shall promote the employment of
  disabled persons by various units.
• State organizations, nongovernmental
  organizations, enterprises, institutions and
  urban and rural collective economic organizations
  should employ a certain proportion of disabled
  persons in appropriate types of jobs and posts.
• The specific ratio may be determined by the
  peoples governments or provinces.

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CHINESE DISABILITY LAW

• Article 31. Self-employment
• The government when concerned shall encourage and
  assist disabled persons to obtain employment
  through voluntary organizations or to open
  individual businesss.

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CHINESE DISABILITY LAW

• Article 32. Rural Labour
• Local peoples governments at various levels and
  rural grassroots organizations shall organize and
  support disabled persons in rural areas to engage
  in farming, planting, animal breeding, handicraft
  industry and other forms of production.

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CHINESE DISABILITY LAW

• Article 33. Preferential Treatment and
  Assistance
• The state shall implement the policy of tax
  reduction or exemption in relation to welfare
  enterprises and institutions for disabled persons
  
• Governments and departments when concerned shall
  determine the types of products suitable for
  production by disabled persons.
• Governmental departments concerned shall
  determine a quota for the employment of disabled
  workers.
• Departments concerned shall when issuing business
  licenses give priority to disabled persons
• Departments concerned shall provide assistance
  for disabled persons engaged in various kinds of
  labour

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CHINESE DISABILITY LAW

• Article 34. Protection
• The state shall protect the property ownership
  and the managerial decision- making power of
  welfare enterprises and institutions for disabled
  persons
• No discrimination shall be practiced against
  disabled persons in recruitment, employment,
  obtainment of permanent status, promotion,
  determining technical or professional titles,
  payment, welfare, labour insurance or in other
  aspects.
• No enterprises or institutions shall deny
  graduates assigned by the state from institutions
  of higher learning solely on the ground of their
  disabilities
• Enterprises and institutions where disabled
  persons work shall provide the disabled workers
  with appropriate working conditions and labour
  protection.

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CHINESE DISABILITY LAW

• Article 35. Training of Employees
• Enterprises and institutions where disabled
  persons work shall provide in-service technical
  training for disabled employees with the view to
  upgrade their skills and techniques.

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PROBLEMS with Law of the PRC on the Protection
of Disabled Persons

• Many argue that this is a perfect example of
  soft law
• The 1991 Law of the PRC on the Protection of
  Disabled Persons sets out a radical agenda for
  social equality and inclusion, although like many
  Chinese statutes it is long on general principles
  and short on detailed commitments
• The Peoples government when concerned, allows
  for an arbitrary interpretation.
• Many provisions are vague and lack significant
  meaning.

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BENEFITS of the Law of the PRC on the Protection
of Disabled Persons

• The employment rate of persons with disabilities
  rose from less than 50 in 1987 to 72 in 1997
• More than 1.5 million people with disabilities in
  China have been employed through quota systems
• Although not perfect, it signifies a vast
  improvement due to the fact it was the countrys
  first such legislation with regards to
  disability.

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AMERICAN LAW

• Disability discrimination cases have been evident
  since the early times.
• The American School for the Deaf founded in
  Hartford, Connecticut in 1817 was the first step
  in upholding the rights of disabled individuals.

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Historical Steps Towards Limiting Employment
Discrimination Under Law

• 1940 -The American Federation of the Physically
  Handicapped, founded by Paul Strachan, was the
  first cross-disability national political
  organization to urge an end to job
  discrimination, lobby for passage of legislation,
  call for a National Employ the Physically
  Handicapped Week and other initiatives.
• 1947 -The Presidents Committee on National
  Employ the Physically Handicapped Week was held
  in Washington, D.C. Publicity campaigns,
  coordinated by state and local committees,
  emphasized the competence of people with
  disabilities and used movie trailers, billboards,
  radio and television ads to convince the public
  that it was good business to hire the
  handicapped.

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STEPS CONTINUED

• 1964- The Civil Rights Act, signed by President
  Johnson, prohibited discrimination on the basis
  of race, religion, ethnicity, national origin and
  creed (gender was added later). This Act outlawed
  discrimination on the basis of race in public
  accommodations and employment as well as in
  federally assisted programs.
• 1986-The Employment Opportunities for Disabled
  Americans Act was passed allowing recipients of
  Supplemental Security Income and Social Security
  Disability Insurance to retain benefits,
  particularly medical coverage, after they obtain
  work.

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Rehabilitation ACT 1973,Section 501 and 504

• 501- Protects applicants and employees with
  disabilities from discrimination in federal
  government agencies.
• 504 - states that "no qualified individual with a
  disability in the United States shall be excluded
  from, denied the benefits of, or be subjected to
  discrimination under" any program or activity
  that either receives Federal financial assistance
  or is conducted by any Executive agency or the
  United States Postal Service.

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Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

• 1990- The Americans with Disabilities Act was
  signed by George W. Bush. The Act provided
  comprehensive civil rights protection for people
  with disabilities.
• Closely modeled after the Civil Rights Act and
  Section 504, the law was the most sweeping
  disability rights legislation in history.
• (Title I/ V ) mandated that local, state and
  federal governments and programs be accessible,
  that businesses with more than 15 employees make
  reasonable accommodations for disabled workers
  and that public accommodations such as
  restaurants and stores make reasonable
  modifications to ensure access for disabled
  members of the public.

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• The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
  (EEOC) enforces Title I and Title V of the
  Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Sections
  501 and 505 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
  and Civil Rights Act of 1991, (which, among other
  things, provides monetary damages in cases of
  intentional employment discrimination).
• EEOC also provides oversight and coordination of
  all federal equal employment opportunity
  regulations, practices, and policies.

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The Peoples Voice Through Litigation

• Case
• Karen Sutton and Kimberly Hinton v. United Air
  Lines, INC.
• US Airways v.  Barnett
• Chevron V. Echazabal
• These cases are ones in which our judicial system
  has narrowed the definition of who can make
  claims under the ADA and further defined
  terminology that may by broad and ambiguous. The
  outcomes in these instances may not be the favor
  of the plaintiff but they are still
  representative of the ability we have to voice
  our concerns in a legal manner.

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EMPLOYMENT AND DISABILITY RIGHTS UNDER THE UN

• Convention on the Rights of Person with
  Disabilities
• Adopted 13 December 2006
• This Convention is a remarkable and
  forward-looking document.  While it focuses on
  the rights and development of people with
  disabilities, it also speaks about our societies
  as a whole -- and about the need to enable every
  person to contribute to the best of their
  abilities and potential.

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Convention on the Rights of Person with
Disabilities

• Article 8 - Awareness-raising
• A3 - To promote recognition of the skills, merits
  and abilities of persons with disabilities, and
  of their contributions to the workplace and the
  labour market

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Convention on the Rights of Person with
Disabilities

• Article 27 - Work and employment
• States Parties recognize the right of persons
  with disabilities to work, on an equal basis with
  others
• Prohibit discrimination on the basis of
  disability with regard to all matters concerning
  all forms of employment
• Protect the rights of persons with disabilities,
  on an equal basis with others, to just and
  favourable conditions of work
• Enable persons with disabilities to have
  effective access to training
• Promote employment opportunities and career
  advancement for persons with disabilities

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Convention on the Rights of Person with
Disabilities

• Article 27 continued - Work and employment
• Promote opportunities for self-employment,
  entrepreneurship, the development of cooperatives
  and starting ones own business
• Employ persons with disabilities in the public
  sector
• Promote the employment of persons with
  disabilities in the private sector
• Ensure that reasonable accommodation is provided
  to persons with disabilities in the workplace
• Promote the acquisition by persons with
  disabilities of work experience in the open
  labour market
• Promote vocational and professional
  rehabilitation, job retention and return-to-work
  programs for persons with disabilities.

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UN Convention compared to China

• Both the UN and China have laws that would be
  considered soft law.
• Many provisions of the UN are also vague and lack
  significant meaning
• Chinas laws are very extensive and seem to cover
  areas similar to the UN. China puts a greater
  emphasis on preferential treatment of people with
  disabilities offering priority to those
  individuals seeking loans, products etc.
• Chinese Law creates a quota system set by the
  proportion of people working in the market.

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Communism and Disability Illusions of Equality
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Law of the People's Republic of China onthe
Protection of Disabled Persons (1990)
Article 52 Administrative Punishment and
Criminal Liability .. Whoever refuses to
perform his duty of fostering a disabled person
who is unable to live independently, shall, if
the circumstances are flagrant, or if he
abandons such a disabled person, be investigated
for criminal responsibility in accordance with
the provisions of Article 183 of the Criminal
Law. Law of the Peoples Republic of China on
Crime Article 183 Whoever refuses his proper
duty to support an aged person, minor, sick
person or any other person who cannot live
independently, if the circumstances are
flagrant, shall be sentenced to fixed-term
imprisonment of not more than five years,
criminal detention or public surveillance.
34
The affect of Communism on disability, seems to
be far more progressive when compared to
international laws. Society plays a much larger
role, in responsibility of care for the
individuals with disabilities even to the extent
that society specifically is mentioned in the
text of the written laws. However, when taken
into practice, there seems to be little found on
actual implementation of the law.
35
Efforts have been made by the Peoples Republic
of China to identify strongly with the
proletariat through elevating people with
disabilities to hero status. For example, a
blind peasant musician, Ah Bing, whose songs are
now standard pieces in Chinese repertoire. Also,
Tai Lihua, a deaf woman who dances with the China
Disabled Persons Art Troup. And Zhang Haidi, a
woman who taught herself multiple languages and
wrote papers. A prominent official was quoted as
saying "Learn from Zhang Haidi, be a Communist
with revolutionary ideals, sound morals, good
education and strong discipline!"
36
Possible Consequences Since it is each persons
responsibility to provide care for a person with
disabilities, if they are so chosen, it is the
case that the quality of the care could be less
than standard. Since the government maintains
such rigid standards to freedom of speech, there
is little recourse for citizens whose rights
have not been upheld. People who are not
considered productive to society have no track,
and thus are at risk of becoming lost in the
system, or put to mundane tasks.
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Conclusions

• China has many lawful struggles, which may or may
  not be a result of a communist based society. For
  instance, the case of Chen Guangcheng

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Conclusions

• Communism ideology that seeks to establish a
  classless, stateless, social organization based
  on common ownership of the means of production
• Irony attributing tens of millions of deaths
  and other large-scale human rights abuses to the
  Communist regimes
• From each, according to his ability to each,
  according to his need

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