(Illustration by Raffi Marhaba, The Dream Creative)
Disability is part of being human. Almost everyone will temporarily or permanently experience disability at some point in their lives, and currently, an estimated 1.3 billion people, roughly 16 percent of the global population, are living with significant disability. The UN Disability and Development Report 2018 reveals that individuals with disabilities face fundamental challenges in nearly all aspects of life, including employment, health care, and education. These difficulties have intensified over the past four years, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, climate-related disasters, and economic hardships.
China is no exception to this global issue. With 85 million people with disabilities, or 6.5 percent of the population, China has enacted more than 60 laws and regulations aimed at safeguarding the rights of individuals with disabilities, encompassing those with visual, auditory, linguistic, physical, intellectual, psychological, and multiple disabilities. Over the past 30 years, it has made substantial improvements in the living conditions and social status of people with disabilities due to rapid economic growth, administrative and legislative actions, and the dedicated efforts of nonprofit organizations that champion the disability community.
Despite all the progress, people with disabilities in China still face enormous social and economic challenges, and are often perceived as sources of inconvenience and a burden on families and society. While organizations like the China Disabled Persons’ Federation aim to support the rights and interests of disabled individuals through assistance obtaining welfare subsidies and other services, only the most severely disabled individuals qualify for government financial aid. At the same time, over 20 percent of people with disabilities between the ages of 15-29 grapple with literacy, which significantly undermines their employability. Disability, poverty, and discrimination are part of a cycle where each reinforces the others.
One powerful way to advance inclusion in China is through the business sector. The global surge in recognizing and embracing corporate social responsibility (CSR) and environmental, social, and governance practices has become a driving force for businesses to invest in people with disabilities worldwide. A prime example is The Valuable 500, which aims to raise awareness about the value and capabilities that people with disabilities bring to the workforce and society at large by uniting CEOs from diverse companies, including Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 members. In China, the business consortium B in Action is taking on a similar ambition, seeking to engage companies of various sizes and industries to understand and support disability inclusion, gain insights into the abilities and potential of the disabled community, and foster a deeper understanding of the challenges they face, such as socialization and transportation. Though new, the consortium—which has already attracted 88 companies—offers helpful insights into the ways businesses can effectively advance disability inclusion and the well-being of people with disabilities in China.
Companies Taking Action
B in Action was launched in 2022 by two initiatives of the Beijing-based Leping Social Entrepreneur Foundation. These include Diversability Lab (D-Lab), a knowledge and resource hub for people and organizations dedicated to enhancing the well-being of individuals with disabilities, and B Corps China, the exclusive partner of B Lab in mainland China, which supports 51 certified B Corps in various industries.
Each member company of B in Action commits to taking at least one actionable measure toward disability inclusion and assigning one individual to active involvement within the consortium. Members also integrate the B Impact Assessment as a guideline to enhance the company’s social and environmental performance.
Together with D-Lab and B Corps China, B in Action ran a series of pilot projects aimed at advancing disability inclusion. From these initiatives, three key lessons emerged for individuals and organizations that are dedicated to enhancing the well-being of people with disabilities and seeking avenues to foster a more inclusive society overall.
1. Raising awareness is as important as finding solutions.
The less visible people with disabilities are in public or working spaces, the less people without disabilities acknowledge their needs. B in Action and D-Lab consider “making the invisible visible” and eradicating bias against people with disabilities as vital steps toward social change. The promotion and facilitation of public-facing and workforce-based disability inclusion programs highlight the challenges people with disabilities encounter and how to overcome them.
Take Lenovo, a Chinese multinational tech company with more than 77,000 employees in China alone. Lenovo launched a series of workshops with D-Lab in 2022 that brought together individuals with disabilities and the company’s technology experts to discuss the latest developments in Lenovo’s technology, including its PCs and related hardware products. The workshops focused on incorporating different needs into early product design and development, with the aim of ensuring that the products were accessible for all users, regardless of their background or ability. D-Lab also provided diversity, equity, and inclusion training for Lenovo employees on topics like embracing diversity in the workplace and gaining proficiency in sign language.
Another example is Loop Earplugs, a Belgian company that entered the Chinese market in 2022. One suggestion from D-Lab was to design Loop's product packaging so that it was more user-friendly for blind individuals, since blind people are among the most frequent users of earplugs. Loop enlisted Jingze Sun and Mengxing Wang, two young designers who are wheelchair users, to oversee the packaging design. The company has since added instructions in braille and a UV-embossed sound wave pattern that allows visually impaired individuals to appreciate the aesthetic of the packaging design through touch.
Yet another example is Shifter, a bar nestled in Beijing’s Jinbao financial district. Its owner, Miao Miao, is committed to making it an inclusive space for diverse patrons—embracing different ages, body types, professions, and distinctive requirements. D-Lab facilitated training for Shifter employees, and the bar now proudly displays the motto, “Nothing about us without us” on its windows—a pledge to hearing and valuing every voice. Miao Miao’s dedication to inclusivity also materialized in the addition of a wheelchair ramp at the bar's entrance and a specialty cocktail named “Out of the Way,” which symbolizes the bar's commitment to removing barriers.
2. Technology can open up better career opportunities.
Generations of people with disabilities in China have grappled with a common challenge: how to utilize their skills and talents in work environments designed without their needs in mind. Like all of us, they want to be recognized for their abilities and contributions, not tolerated or pitied at work.
Today, technologies like screen-reader software and cochlear implants are paving the way for people with disabilities to thrive in the workplace. In addition, emerging fields that require skill but not a lot of physical mobility are opening up.
In 2021, for example, the technology company Tencent, which supports nonprofits in various fields as part of its CSR practice, collaborated with D-Lab to recruit a small team of data annotators with physical disabilities. In partnership with Shan Shui Conservation Center and the World Wildlife Fund, the company built a digital AI detection platform to identify rare snow leopards among thousands of images, then trained the team of annotators to track the leopards and annotate the data to inform habitat conservation strategies. From their homes across China, the nine-person team completed more than 100,000 data annotations within 1.5 months. Wei Tong, the team’s leader and a wheelchair user, said, “Participating in the snow leopards protection programs has been both fun and enlightening. I learned a lot about the habitats, as well as other wild animals in the mountain area.” Through the collaboration with Tencent, D-Lab seeks to enhance the skills and income of individuals with disabilities, and encourage tech companies, among others, to adopt more inclusive employment practices.
Entrepreneurship and self-employment are also emerging as promising avenues for individuals with disabilities. A report by the China Disabled Persons' Federation and Alibaba in 2019 noted that approximately 174,000 individuals with disabilities—mostly between the ages of 36 to 50—are shop owners on Taobao, one of China’s largest e-commerce platforms. This trend is also apparent in D-Lab’s growing community of young disabled entrepreneurs, designers, artists, and activists who want to meet like-minded people and explore ways to better integrate people with disabilities into social activities. One project is a career matchmaking platform aimed at connecting job opportunities with young disabled individuals who have skills in areas like data processing, digital marketing, design, and social media management. Jingze and Mengxing, the two designers behind the new packaging for Loop’s earplugs, are both registered members of this platform.
3. Narrative change is paramount for system change.
Media tends to portray disability in China in contrasting ways. One suggests that disability is an individual challenge that people can surmount with strong will and exceptional effort (as exemplified by Paralympians); the other portrays disability as something to pity. Both perspectives overlook the majority of disabled individuals who strive to lead ordinary lives and fight biases against them. As storytelling expert Brett Davidson points out, “Humans tend to see the existing order not just as the way things are, but as natural, or even the way things ought to be. This makes us more likely to accept unwelcome social and political situations, reducing support and motivation for activities that challenge the system, even among groups that are disadvantaged by it.”
Changing prevailing cultural narratives is challenging but necessary, and people like Meihao Pan are leading the way. Meihao, a 30-year-old wheelchair user and D-Lab’s head of media and communication as of 2022, shares her roles as a caregiver and passionate documenter of life—including her experiences crossing roads, navigating the subway, receiving deliveries, and visiting museums—through self-media tools, particularly short videos. In 2023, CNEX, a foundation dedicated to nurturing Chinese documentary film makers, released a short documentary film titled A Wonderful Ride that chronicles her journey of leaving a small town to pursue her dreams in Beijing. Today, she has more than 2,500 followers on her social media Weibo account, and her daily life videos have garnered more than 4 million views. Her stories are not about extraordinary will or a pitiable life; they show a relatable person striving to lead a normal life and grappling with everyday barriers often overlooked by able-bodied people.
Another point of light is D-Lab’s recently launched the Out of the Way podcast, featuring stories and interviews on disability inclusion. The podcast is hosted by a D-Lab program officer, Weijun Zhang, who was the first blind person to attain a master's degree in translation and who now studies the cultural foundations of education. Both Weijun and Meihao use a strategy that Davidson highlights; they expose the contradictions in the dominant narrative by posing smart questions playfully, helping people realize the absurdity and see the world through new eyes. How do blind people enjoy video games? How does a wheelchair user improve her cooking skills when the kitchen counter in her apartment is too tall to reach? Their podcasts and videos tackle questions like these.
The Winding Road Ahead
For some time, society referred to disabled people in China as can fei, characters that mean “handicapped” and “useless.” Today, can zhang (with the second character representing “obstacle” or “barrier”) is more common. This linguistic evolution reflects some level of progress. The difficulties disabled individuals in China face emanate from a system that does not accommodate their unique physical and mental differences. It is essential to recognize that they are not inherently flawed; rather, the lack of accessibility in their surroundings creates barriers for them. As an initial step in promoting barrier-free access and universal design for disabled people in China, D-Lab is currently working on the very first Beijing travel guide for wheelchair users.
Initiatives such as B in Action and D-Lab may seem modest at first glance, but they represent substantial strides toward building a network and ecosystem of cross-sector advocates for disability inclusion in China. The vision behind these efforts is that failed systems need to be transformed for individuals with disabilities, not the other way around. This requires that advocates find disruptive and innovative approaches to define the root causes of social exclusion and discrimination and systematically address them. Governments don’t have the resources to address these issues on their own, and nonprofit organizations don’t have the capacity to scale solutions to meet all needs. Collaborative business alliances and collective action, however, possess the potential to empower communities and shape a future characterized by equity, accessibility, and inclusivity for all.
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Read more stories by Fan Li & Sally Ren.