Special education in China
According to the 2006 census, 82.96 million disabled people live in China, an estimated 6.34% of the overall population. This statistic had a 1.44% increase from the year 1987. Men outnumber women in China’s 1.35 billion population making it no surprise that more than half of the people with disabilities are male. The number of disabled people living in the rural areas of China is 75% of the disabled population, compared to the urban which held 25% of the disabled population. Specifically relating to school-aged population, disabled children at the age between 6-14 reached to 2.46 million, 2.96% of the total disabled population. Less than 3% of China’s disabled population is in the school-aged demographic. Although this statistic is shockingly low, the one child policy contributes to much of the population decreases seen in recent history especially among school-aged children. China categorizes disabilities differently than in other nations, for example China identified 5% of their school-aged population to be in need of special education whereas The United States identified 10% of their school-aged population; this comparison is a result of China not recognizing learning disabilities or disorders such as ADHD to be in need of special services whereas many other nations do.
Educational opportunities for disabled Chinese are lacking, causing elevated poverty and poor living conditions .
Gao Yaojie
Gao’s hard work and persistence, however, have forced the government to admit that there is a problem with AIDS. In 2003, the Chinese government admitted officially that AIDS existed in China and promised funds to prevent and control the disease. In 2004 the United
Nations Theme Group on HIV/AIDS in China released a report estimating that somewhere between 850,000 and 1.5 million adults in China were infected with HIV as of 2001. In 2007, Chinese health officials estimated that only 750,000 adults were infected, but other sources
estimated that the true number was closer to 1.5 million. By October that year, China had officially recorded 183,733 HIV cases, including 12,464 deaths. Up until now, many people at risk remain untested—some are lurking in the shadows because of the stigma—and some
experts fear the actual number could be much higher.