China's Special Needs People

China's orphanages would be filled with abandoned disabled kids, but ... most of the time kids with disabilities don't survive past infancy because they don't receive basic, proper care.

Families with a special-needs kid feel that the child is a huge liability. With basically no special education programs and no health insurance or welfare, how can a parent possibly care for a child with Down Syndrome, or a cleft palate, or Cerebral Palsy? Furthermore, in this culture children are the parents' retirement plan and social security, that is, parents rely on children to care for them when they are aged. Of course, a disabled child will not be able to care for and support his/her parents when they are retired. So to a Chinese family, a disabled child is nothing but a liability.

Another expat organization working in Changsha has been caring for the city's most severely disabled children. A decade ago, they approached the Chinese orphanages and said "give us your 'worst' cases". They improved the quality of life for these kids by offering better living conditions and opportunities for therapy, classes, and even work. One of the goals was to show the Chinese social system, by example, that special needs people can be productive and wonderful members of society.

Recently, this expat organization also opened a center which aims to prevent abandonment of special needs kids. Right now they're working with about 100 families to provide support, therapy and education for the child and parents. Here's the kite mural I just finished for one of their therapy rooms.



Believing that every child is made in His image,

Rachel


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