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CHINA
Not Yet On the Medal Stand
Published Sep 6, 2008
From the magazine issue dated Sep 15, 2008
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There are some 83 million disabled people in China, but the country has never been particularly hospitable to them. Why bother building subway ramps and bus lifts, the attitude has long been, for people who aren't expected to leave home? But when Beijing was awarded the 2008 Summer Olympics, the Paralympic Games, an event featuring 4,000 disabled athletes, came along with it. So in the spirit of the 12-day competition, which opened on Saturday, China's government raced to bring Beijing up to international standards, creating 16 special bus lines for the athletes, installing street-crossing signals for the blind and adding wheelchair-friendly subway exits. It even outfitted a section of the Great Wall with a ramp and an elevator.
But according to athletes and officials, Beijing is still a long way from being disability-friendly. Many sidewalks are uneven. Most curbs don't have ramps. And traveling halfway across the world might be easier for Paralympians than crossing Chang'an Avenue, the east-west artery where Tiananmen and the Forbidden City are located: the massive avenue, like many others in Beijing, has no crosswalk—and drivers don't brake for pedestrians. Oral Miller, an executive with the International Blind Sports Association, told NEWSWEEK he was warned by a guide to "run across the street, because they won't stop for you."
Although the head of the Paralympics organizing committee has praised the city for its efforts, not everyone is satisfied. IBSA officials say the hotel has no Braille explanations. They were depending on the Paralympic buses, but their hotel isn't included in the route. Esther Vergeer, a four-time wheelchair tennis champion from the Netherlands, had visited the Great Wall before—in 2007, on the back of a local stranger—and she was excited to make the trip on her own this time. But when she inquired, the wheelchair-friendly section was closed, with no explanation.
© 2008
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