Rights and responsibilities : intellectual disability in China : family, governmental and non-governmental care

Abstract

According to the latest official survey (2005) there are 5.54 million people with intellectual disabilities in China. The large majority of these are still confined to the home, depending on their families for any needed assistance. One of the organisations that do provide services for people with intellectual disabilities is Huiling. Huiling is a Chinese non-governmental organisation currently operating in twelve cities all over the country. When founded in 1985, it was the first organisation offering services to people with intellectual disabilities in China. The two questions discussed are: First, who has responsibility for the welfare of people with intellectual disabilities in China? Second, what are the general and more specific strategies Huiling is pursuing in the organisation’s work with and for people with intellectual disabilities? The short answer to the first question is the family, yet there has been some changes in the last two decades that may indicate there is an increased awareness on disability-issues in China, and as a result the government is offering more services to people with intellectual disabilities, and is also opening up for more non-governmental organisations to do the same. The short answer to the second question is that Huiling, from starting out as provider of care in the form of covering the most basic needs, like eating and a place to sleep, has developed and now works towards the more ambitious goal that “persons with intellectual disabilities should have the same rights as others.” The organisation now works actively, and with several approaches, towards giving people with intellectual disabilities a more visible and independent role in society. Huiling can be said to have a double objective with its services: On one side it tries to influence society to accommodate people with intellectual disabilities. This is primarily achieved through the organisation’s stress on an active use of the public space, and through what may be called a “deinstitutionalised” service model. On the other side, it tries to influence and train people with intellectual disabilities, in order for them to better adapt to society. In this regard, the organization not only stress each individuals equal rights, but also the responsibility to do ones best, relating to work, relations to others and self development.