From June 10 to 18, I participated in the 2004 China-US Conference on Educating Students with Special Needs in Beijing, China. The conference highlighted six areas for discussion on ways to improve special education programs among Chinese and American students with disabilities. My focus was assistive technology and technology for personnel preparation.
My technology sessions were introductory to the Chinese administrators, teachers and students working in special education who attended the conference. The Chinese attendees soaked up the knowledge quicker than a huge sponge absorbing a spill. Their enthusiasm showed as they asked questions about Braille products, keyless keyboards, foot pedals, EyeGazeâ„¢ communications, text-to-speech technology, wheelchairs, cochlear implants, bionics and programs to assist people with learning disabilities. Their zeal doubled when they discovered the Web provides information on these products. Their fervor, however, rapidly nose-dived when they heard that these products range from $300 to $15,000.
“Individual students can’t afford them,” a soft-spoken, sad-looking student told me.
Still, more than a dozen Chinese participants asked me to e-mail them my PowerPoint® presentation showing 12 assistive technology products and their Web addresses. They were eager to learn more about these products through the Internet.
“The Internet is a great resource for learning what America is doing in the special education area,” says Zheng Jian, professor, Chongqing Normal University. Jian believes the Internet is a great teaching tool for students with special needs, and online education can reduce educational costs.
“We want to know how assistive technology can help students with autism communicate,” says Tian Huiping, founder and director of the Stars and Rain Institute for Autism in Beijing and the mother of a daughter with autism.
100 Million with Special Needs
With more than 1.2 billion people, China is the most populated country in the world. The Chinese know they have a huge disability population, but they do not know the exact number of people with disabilities requiring special education courses. According to Xu Jiacheng, President, Special Education College of Beijing Union University (SECBUU), the number of students in China requiring special needs programs is in the tens of millions. Some believe it exceeds 100 million.
The Chinese know they must increase the education and training of huge numbers of students with disabilities if they are to compete for jobs and raise their standard of living in a country where the average annual income is less than $800 for more than 75% of the population. To expand the number of special needs students, the Chinese must increase spending on a national level. A $2 million annual budget for special needs students is not enough.
“Inclusiveness is our goal in educating students with special needs,” said Weng Ruimin, Deputy Director, China Association for Science and Technology (CAST).
Established in the summer of 2000, SECBUU is China’s first independent, comprehensive special education institution training special education teachers, providing higher vocational education for students with disabilities, and guidance and teaching. There are three departments-Special Education, Art, and Biology and Medicine- under which various programs are offered.
The special education major is a four-year course aimed at fostering the “first line” teachers in special education schools who will teach special education students coming from elementary and junior schools under China’s nine-year compulsory education program. The Hearing and Language two- year program is offered to language training teachers possessing higher professional and technical diplomas and professional and technical certificates.
In addition to training the professionals who teach students with special needs, the school trains individuals with disabilities in a variety of fields. The four-year Art Design program trains deaf individuals in advertising, decorative design and environmental art design. The school uses Macintosh G4 microcomputers and the students learn advanced photography, design and production and how to use color printing. Additionally, for deaf students, there is also a three-year Decorating and Advertisement Design program where students learn to develop their art talents using computer-aided industry programs and a three-year office automation program where the students learn to work with a variety of software. Another program for deaf students is a three-year Gardening program where students learn how to develop a garden and grasslands and to plant, conserve, manage and cultivate flowers, shrubbery and trees.
“Because of the training I receive here, when I leave, I believe I have a future, ” a deaf student told me through an interpreter.
For blind students, there is a three-year program where they learn to master piano tuning and maintenance and to develop their piano skills. There is also a four-year Acupuncture and Massage program, in which students learn traditional Chinese medicine theory and clinical massage skills.
Square Pegs, Round Holes
Hundreds of deaf and blind students graduate yearly from special education colleges in China. They are equipped to work either in special education areas or the private sector. Still, there are tens of thousands of deaf and blind young men and women who are not graduating.
China’s culture is not geared toward taking huge numbers of people with disabilities into the private sector job market. In fact, traveling in Beijing and the surrounding countryside, the only people with disabilities I saw were individuals using wheelchairs. Most of these wheelchairs were makeshift, like the one in the photo accompanying this article.
Most people have never seen a motorized wheelchair. A few people who have been to major hospitals or research facilities have seen them and admire them, but they are cautious about the price and maintenance.
Still, there is an awareness in China that assistive technology has a major role in improving the lives of Chinese people with disabilities. One of the goals among special education teachers is establishing an assistive technology training center in Beijing. Hoping to open next year with the aid of assistive technology manufacturers, the center will train teachers and students to use the products.
How will such a center be viewed? Li Dong Mei, Director, China Disabled Persons’ Federation, Department of Education and Employment, told me, “The center can create jobs for students with special needs and teachers.”
The Chinese believe that the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step, and they have taken a first step in learning about assistive technology. They believe access to tomorrow’s assistive technology will take them miles farther.
John Williams has been writing about assistive technology for 25 years. A sample of his book Assistive Technologies: Creating a Universe of Opportunities for People with Disabilities can be seen at www.atn-ctcf.org.
As our school has established an exchange visit with a school in Beijing, I was curious to know more about the educational possibilities for Chinese pupils with additional support needs. However, our host school in Beijing has a very traditional academic focus and I had gleaned only a little about the awareness of inclusive education in China. Your article was very informative and has encouraged to research further.
A group of 12 deaf students from the Transoranje SChool for the Deaf in Pretoria, South Africa, will be visiting China during June/July 2006 on invitation of the Chase Foundation. We will visit the country as part of a cultural exchange programme and will also like to visit Deaf Schools and organisations in China. I have difficulty finding contact details of such schools in China in order to contact them to arrange a visit. Could you possibly help in this matter?
Kind regards,
Carien Marais
Marketing Manager
Transoranje SChool for the Deaf
Pretoria, South Africa
I am forwarding these comments and questions to John M. Williams, author of the column. Perhaps he can help you with his connections.
Hi Carien,
The Amity Foundation recently initiated a program that supports schools and libraries for deaf students in China. They are very much involved with this issue. Here is the contact information:
E-mail: amitybp@amityfoundation.org.cn
Website: http://www.amityfoundation.org
The article was very interesting and similar to my recent experience in Wuhan and Chongqing (June, 2006). I was part of group of four social work instructors from the University of Louisville and the University of Kentucky who lectured and had discussions with many civil service students at the two schools. My area was disability issues in the U.S. There was much enthusiasm and many questions on the topic of high school students and inclusion, community employment and supportive living. I showed about 30 photographs of persons using low and high asssitve tech equipment. And like the author above they were very interested but did not see many options of acquiring such expensive equipment. However, I did have photos of some very low tech, inexpensive equipment and stressed the creative side to all of this. I left my photos which pleased them greatly. We visited the agency I belive
that Lon Dong Mei is with and are actively pursuing an art collaboration with them and United Cerebral Palsy of Greater Cincinnati. I was impressed with three signs on the walls, respect, equality and acceptance. The small staff was very respectful and encouraging to the participants. It was clear that this was an agency that believed in quality service. I hope that we will have a long term collaboration.