Xinhua Insight: Visually impaired want more career choices

At least 12 million people in China are visually impaired and been told that they can only follow one of two career paths: Music or massage. Despite education reform, which has given more people the opportunity to sit "gaokao", the college admission exam, more must be done to ensure educational equality.

Last year, the Ministry of Education stipulated that visually impaired people should be given access to braille or electronic exam papers, as well as support staff, so that they can sit the gaokao.

Although eight provinces reported that visually impaired candidates had sat the gaokao in 2015, none released exact numbers. Last year, just three people took the exam.

HIGH SCORES, MORE CHOICES?

Zheng Rongquan, 20, is visually impaired, but that does not stop him longing for a profession other than the two deemed "appropriate" for people like him.

Last week, the gaokao results were released. Zheng achieved a score of 570, which is well above average in east China's Zhejiang Province, even for candidates that do not have a physical disability.

When he sat the gaokao in early June, he was supplied with a large-type exam paper and a magnifier.

"I want to be a special needs teacher or a psychologist in the future. I know what they need and how to help," says Zheng.

Unfortunately, despite his high score, and almost scoring 100 percent on the math paper alone, it is unlikely that he will be accepted on to the course of his choice as music and massage are still seen as appropriate majors.

"Three students in our school sat this year's gaokao. All obtained high scores," says Zhang Lei, vice principal at Qingdao School for the Blind, where Zheng was a student.

However, the vice principal added, these students will likely face limited higher educational choices .

Xinhua spoke to several universities in the province including Zhejiang University of Technology and Zhejiang Agriculture & Forestry University. None had any plans to accept any visually impaired students.

One admissions officer revealed that colleges lacked special textbooks and trained lecturers to support visually impaired students. Colleges are concerned over their ability to care for themselves and whether they could cope academically with their peers.

"If only a handful of universities and majors are available to them, the effort these gifted students put into their studies will be in vain," Zhang Lei lamented.

MORE THAN THIS?

In China it is widely believed that visually impaired students are not able to study in mainstream institutions. They are usually sent to special schools.

"I was told from childhood to be a massage therapist. My gym teacher encouraged us to do more pushups to increase arm strength for future massage work," explained Wang Rui, 30, a HR manager with a blind massage parlor in Henan Province, central China.

She said only two of her 20 classmates went to senior high schools that could teach them the same curriculum as other students. Most, she said, chose vocational schools.

Wang sat an exam designed for the blind and was accepted by the special education department at Changchun University in Jilin Province, northeast China. However, the only subjects she could take were acupuncture and massage.

China has roughly 120,000 blind massage therapists.

"It's a well-paid job but not everyone wants to do it. I have my own dreams. This is why I took the gaokao," Zheng Rongquan said.

Another student, Zhang, 19, sat the gaokao last year. Even though he achieved a score of 558, he was rejected by several universities before Hubei University of Chinese Medicine finally accepted his application.

"As long as we are given equal opportunities, we can do as well as anyone else," he said.

EQUAL PLAYING FIELD

China has improved access to education for people with disabilities. Public libraries nationwide have 800,000 copies of books in braille, as well as disabled-friendly furniture.

Visually-impaired citizens are guaranteed the same rights to education as other students by law. More than 90,000 disabled students have gone on to higher education over the past three decades.

"The journey has only just begun and needs more time to change," says Yang Jianhua, a sociologist with Zhejiang Provincial Academy of Social Sciences.

Yang said people needed to change the way they think about blind and visually impaired students. There is no reason why they cannot study with other students, he added.

His view is echoed by Li Yanyan, 50, a chiropractor in Anhui Province, east China.

In 1982, Li lost his sight and had to quit university during his third year. However, he was later accepted on to the chiropractic program at Palmer College of Chiropractic West in the U.S., and went on to earn a Phd in 2006.

He said at American universities, students are assessed purely on academic merit, and this was something China could learn from the U.S.

"Being visually impaired doesn't mean we can't learn and progress. Chinese universities don't need to worry about 'looking after' us. We don't need that. We are stronger than you think," Li says. Endi