A nationwide survey starting from April 1 will help determine
government strategies and policies to help the disabled,
authorities announced yesterday.
The China Disabled Persons' Federation (CDPF)?and
a number of State agencies will conduct the survey, involving 2.6
million people in 31 provinces, autonomous regions and
municipalities, until the end of May, said Cheng Kai, deputy
councilor of the federation.
"One important purpose of the survey is to have a better
knowledge of the cause of the disabilities and provide reliable
data and analysis reports for handicap prevention," Cheng said.
It is expected to provide information such as the regional
distribution of disabled people, the causes of their disabilities
and the type of medical treatment they receive.
The sampling will also help establish their rehabilitation,
education, employment and level of participation in society. The
findings are meant to offer a reliable basis to formulate
disability-related laws, regulations, policies, principles and
working programs.
This will be the second such survey. "The first national sample
survey in 1987 found China had about 52 million people with various
kinds of disabilities," Cheng said.
The survey will use the World Health Organization's 2001
standards and classify people into six disability categories:
visual, hearing, vocal disabilities, mental illness, mental
disabilities and physical disabilities.
The actual number of disabled people in China is now estimated
to be more than 60 million. The 2.6 million involved in the survey
account for 2 percent of the country's population.
The federation is a unified national organization of and for
persons with disabilities.
About 6,000 physicians will accompany the survey workers,
offering health tips and rehabilitation suggestions.
Initial results will be released in November.
(China Daily February 15, 2006)