By Emma Barrett
Speaker Deng Pufang focused on raising awareness and increasing opportunities at Wednesday’s forum, Sept. 13, in the Wilkinson Student Center.
Deng is the head of the China Disabled Persons’ Federation. He came to BYU this week with the China Disabled Persons’ Performing Art Troupe.
Since the early 1980’s Deng has been the foremost Chinese advocate for disabled people.
Deng, son of former Chinese Premier Deng Xiaoping, is confined to a wheelchair because of a fall from a fourth-story window during the Cultural Revolution in China.
Deng said he initially believed economic factors were the greatest hindrance to disabled people.
He now believes the economic issues facing disabled people are a less serious obstacle than the lack of social awareness regarding people with disabilities, he said.
“The major reason disabled people are not fully integrated is public awareness,” Deng said. “When people see a blind person, they emphasize his blindness, not his equal personality.”
Deng said he strongly believes disabled people deserve the same rights and opportunities as everyone else.
Even the absence of discrimination is meaningless unless special conditions exist to provide disabled people with equal opportunities, he said.
“Of course no one will prohibit a person in a wheelchair from going to the cinema or shopping,” Deng said. “But if the facilities are not there, these rights are naturally prohibited.”
Since 1983, Deng has worked to increase the opportunities available to disabled people.
Deng said he initially worked to encourage employment of disabled people, raising the level of disabled people who are employed from under 50 percent in the early eighties to over 80 percent currently.
Providing more educational opportunities for disabled people became a goal, Deng said.
He said he worked with the State Ministry of Education in China to establish special education resource centers and provide more classes that serve disabled people in regular schools.
Deng said another recent focus is providing rehabilitation treatment to those with disabilities.
He said he has helped create rehabilitation centers that provide services like cataract surgery and orthopedic surgery for polio victims in rural areas.
Although progress in erasing discrimination and providing opportunities has not come overnight, Deng said he believes his work has made a difference for disabled people in China.
“Every achievement is made step by step,” Deng said. “The steps are small, but combined, they make big strides.”
Deng said disabled people can now have hope for a better future.
“If the path you are taking is right for your country’s specific situation, then it will lead to success,” Deng said.
“The biggest change in China is a change from hopelessness to a new situation full of hope,” he said. “I don’t say that all needs are met, but there is a new hope for disabled people in China.”
See related story:
Troupe from China delivers message of hope 9/13/2000
