The disabled are Taiwan's less fortunate,
suffering physically and mentally in their
daily lives. But a much-needed helping hand
is available in an increasing number of forms,
to ensure their rights and to see that they are
able to face their challenges with dignity.
No one said life would be easy, but it's even harder for the disabled. In Taiwan, precedent is often not much help, either. Following traditional Chinese philosophy, people in Taiwan were conditioned to interpret the presence of genetic disabilities and infectious diseases as "retribution" for the bad behavior and moral lapses of the ancestors of the disabled--or even of the disabled themselves, in their own previous lives. Parents of handicapped children in Taiwan were often ashamed to admit that they had such children, feeling sullied by an invisible stain and a sense of guilt. Many people therefore tried to hide the handicapped, and relatively few were willing to step forward to ask for government assistance. However, Taiwan's increasingly better-educated people understand that physical and mental impairments are caused by many factors not related to one's karma. In the meantime, the voices of the handicapped and their families are getting louder.
The ROC's Welfare Law for the Handicapped and Disabled was enacted in 1980, but it listed only six types of disability--including the visually handicapped, the hearing or balance-mechanism impaired, the speech-impaired, those with miss ing or damaged limbs, and the mentally retarded. These categories were extended to eleven in 1990, to twelve in 1995 (when chronic psychosis was added to the list), and to fourteen in 1997, at which time the name of the law was changed to the Protection Law for the Handicapped and Disabled. "The change of terms from 'welfare' to 'protection' was a sign of progress, because it suggested a change from the concept of charity to the concept of rights," says Associate Professor Mawin Tsai in the Department of Law at National Taiwan University (NTU).
Liu Pang-fu, director of the Department of Social Affairs under the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) argues that the Protection Law for the Handicapped and Disabled "is the ROC's most advanced welfare statute, because it distributes duties to all government agencies concerned." In the past, when the social affairs department took care of everything, most efforts were spent on getting coordinated with other agencies. But the newly-revised law stipulates that offices of health, education, labor affairs, construction, transportation, and finance all have certain responsibilities, Liu explains.
How many disabled people are there in Taiwan? The MOI tallies show that, as of the end of June 1998, there were 534,327 people, or 2.3 percent of the total population, holding Handicapped Certificates. Of this number, those with handi capped limbs are the largest group: 233,242 people, or 43.65 percent of the total. However, it is impossible to ascertain the number of "hidden disabled" in Taiwan. The US Information Agency has suggested that there may be as many as 700,000 total disabled people in Taiwan.
According to Taiwan's first census on special children in 1976, 34,001 pupils aged six to twelve were physically chal lenged. Among the 2.68 million primary school students, the percentage of disabled stood at 1.27 percent. The second census, conducted in 1990 on six- to fifteen-year-olds after the law was revised, indicated that the figure had grown to 75,562 among the 3.56 million children, and that the ratio was 2.13 percent. The dramatic rise in the ratio from 1976 to 1990 can be attributed to the fact that the 1990 census included a larger age group and appreciated a greater variety of disabilities.
In the 1997-98 school year, there were a total of 2.98 million primary school and junior high school students in Taiwan. "If we calculate by the ratio of 2.13 percent, there should have been some 63,000 disabled students. But only about 49,000 of them received special education," says Harn Jih-suei, executive secretary of the Special Education Task Force under the Ministry of Education (MOE). This means that only 77.28 percent of the students were availing themselves of special educa tion services, while the remaining 22.72 percent were not. "We hope to raise the percentage of qualifying students in special education by five percent annually," Harn projects. In this way, Taiwan will have ninety-nine percent of the disabled students receiving special education services in the 2002-03 school year, although he adds that "we wish we could make it ninety-nine percent immediately."
Special education covers programs and facilities for those with special needs due to handicaps, as well as learning difficulties caused by hyperactivity and speech-mechanism impairments. At present, Taiwan's special education system serves school-aged children in four major ways. Most of them attend the regular schools, in which four types of classes are provided. "Eighty percent of these disabled children go to the regular classes, in which licensed teachers instruct them together with other students," says Professor Wu Wu-tien of the Department of Special Education at National Taiwan Normal University. There are also "special classes" set up for the mentally and physically challenged students, who are instructed by specialists in a room with the necessary facilities. In the meantime, the "resource rooms" are a combination of regular and special classes, in which some of the physically challenged students attend more than half of the class time, while others attend less than half.
Executive Secretary Harn adds that there are twenty special schools in Taiwan focusing on blind, deaf, physically handi capped, and mentally retarded students. These schools shoulder the responsibility of instructing 5,357 students in basic knowledge, in ways to take care of themselves, and in how to earn a living in the future. Students either take a bus to class or live on campus. Those who stay in hospitals due to accidents and those who live at health care institutions because of serious disabilities are instructed by visiting teachers. There is also home instruction for students whose disabilities are so severe that they are not able to go to school. "Around 2,800 students take courses at home," Harn says.
Taiwan Provincial Changhua Jen-Ai School for the Physically Handicapped is the only special school for children with disabled limbs. Established in 1967, Jen-Ai now offers classes from kindergarten through vocational school. "The current policy is to provide a diversity of schooling. Although the world trend is toward inclusive education, in order to make children learn to adapt to the society earlier, we should reach the goal by reforming the general school environment and strengthening side measures," Professor Wu says.
Harn distinguishes "special education" from "regular education" by saying that "the regular class is more like the soci ety, in which students can have a more 'ordinary' peer group. Disabled children should be treated as all others, so that they can enjoy participating in all activities and have a higher self-esteem. Special school is more or less an isolated, self-contained, and well-protected environment. Graduates may have a hard time when they become 'freshmen' in the society." Even so, such schools are necessary to give all children equal opportunity for education.
Professor Wu stresses that the first goal of special education is "zero rejects"--meaning that everyone should have the opportunity to receive education. The second goal is an individualized education program, which requires a different learning environment, a new curriculum, innovative teaching methods, and special evaluative measures. The purpose is to provide the most appropriate education program to each. The third objective is to have the least restrictive environment, in terms of both physical and mental obstacles. "What hurts the disabled most is people's attitudes toward them." Executive Secretary Harn agrees. "It's a sign of progress that children no longer chase the disabled people around and call them insulting names. But progress has been very slow. This may be a problem with Taiwan's entire society, where care is hard to find and indifference prevails. The disabled should be treated fairly."
Organized demonstrations and protest marches for Taiwan's disabled are also a sign of progress. "Before 1988, more than half the university departments in Taiwan had restrictions against disabled applicants. Although the general concern behind this was to better protect the physically challenged, such a measure also deprived them of a fair chance to study the disciplines they were interested in. Why don't we let the disabled make the evaluation and decide for themselves?" asks Wang Jung-chang, general secretary of the ROC League of Welfare Organizations for the Disabled, a group established in 1989 as a committee to push for the revision of the Welfare Law for the Handicapped and Disabled. The committee was transformed into a league in 1990 to monitor the formulation of new regulations and the implementation of statutes.
The lack of special education instructors is another problem. Although special education departments have been set up in thirteen colleges and universities in Taiwan so far, this is only a recent development. With a limited number of graduates, there is a shortage of specialists. "Many of the current special education instructors have teaching certificates, but lack the special training necessary to qualify them as special education teachers. While some of them choose to stay and take intensive courses, others may leave because they are not able to meet all the requirements," Wu says. The Ministry of Examination holds a national test for the purpose of licensing special education teachers, yet statistics show that there are now only 4,864 such teachers for the disabled.
Because of the paucity of special education teaching materials, tools, and evaluative mechanisms in Taiwan, teachers have had to design and prepare everything they need themselves. Such a task not only takes an inordinate amount of time, but also serves as a discouragement. Both Harn and Wu hope that the publishing industry will take over such duties some day in the near future, so teachers can concentrate on teaching.
"To love the cute, the smart, and the pretty is easy and requires little effort. It is great to love the unlovely, because such a love should be accompanied by endless patience and devotion. Therefore, while knowledge of special education is the foundation, it is also a must to have others compare their experiences and pep one another up," Wu goes on. "This is also the reason we ask our students to serve as volunteers, so they can realize what they are going to encounter in the future. Such a preparation helps them to understand themselves better before deciding whether to continue in this field. That way, we know they are fully committed to special education."
Another obstacle is money. The MOE budget for special education has climbed from NT$560 million (US$17.2 million) in fiscal 1990 to NT$3.58 billion (US$110.2 million) in fiscal 1999. Harn explains that "although the Special Education Law [enacted in 1984 and revised in 1997] stipulates that three percent of the central government's education budget and five percent of the local governments' education expenditures should be allocated for the disabled, it is still not enough. This is because the total includes personnel charges, administrative expenses, and construction spending, as well as tuition for both the disabled students and those who study special education."
Providing an appropriate learning environment is only the beginning, however. After graduation, the disabled need to go into the society. "We hope to help the disabled transform themselves from dependents into taxpayers," Executive Secretary Harn says. In this regard, the Protection Law for the Handicapped and Disabled provides a framework for both the public and private sectors. All private companies with more than one hundred employees must hire at least one disabled worker. Govern ment agencies, public schools, and state-run enterprises with fifty or more employees are held to a doubly stringent standard: two percent of their workforce must be disabled people. "The quota is 28,000," says Lin Tsong-ming, director-general of the Employment and Vocational Training Administration under the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA). "At present, around 32,000 disabled people have been hired by public and private corporations. But not all employers have met the quota."
Employers who do not meet the quota must pay a fine equal to the basic salary of NT$15,840 (US$487) every month for each handicapped person they have not yet hired. The money obtained is paid into the Special Account for Handicapped Welfare, set up and administered by local governments. The fund is used to make workplaces more accessible to the disabled, to pay the full salaries of disabled employees during their first three months of probationary employment, and to underwrite half the salary of each disabled employee who is hired after a private employer has already met his quota.
As of the end of September 1998, offshore Lienchiang County had the best performance, reaching its entire quota. The three worst performers were Taipei City, Taoyuan County, and Taipei County, with (respectively) 700, 204, and 151 public and private companies not yet meeting the demand. "Because some corporations are 'efficiency-oriented,' they would rather pay the fines to avoid hiring the disabled," Lin explains. The fund has now accumulated around NT$10 billion (US$307.3 million), among which Taipei City alone gets NT$5 billion (US$153.8 million), while the entire Taiwan Province occupies only forty-two percent of the total.
To reach its quota of disabled employees, the government held a special examination for the disabled in 1996 to help them enter the civil service system. However, the measure was considered by many to be a case of reverse discrimination. "Why don't we just include the disabled in the general civil service exams?" NTU's Tsai asks. Other critics say that the test opened only 350 vacancies, less than twenty percent of the required 1,800, although some 470 staff members were finally recruited. Most of the remaining vacancies were filled by contract employees who were disabled.
In addition, the mandatory ratio is criticized as arbitrary. "We didn't conduct an in-depth investigation before setting the ratio," Tsai remarks. "We have to know each type of disabled group's willingness to work, not to mention evaluate the jobs suitable for them." This is why employers complain that they cannot hire the disabled because no disabled people apply for their jobs. At the same time, the disabled claim they are denied jobs almost everywhere, Tsai adds. Lin argues that some disabled people are simply not willing to work and choose instead to take one training program after another just to get the monthly subsidy of NT$10,000 (US$308). Although statistics to support this often-made claim are not currently available, such abuse of the system has caused the CLA to screen training applicants. Those who have received training over the preceding two years are not eligible to apply.
Teaching the disabled how to fish is much more practical than simply giving them the catch. The CLA now provides nearly eighty training courses for the disabled in thirteen public and thirty-nine private vocational training centers. According to late-1998 statistics, a total of 17,889 disabled people have been trained, among whom 11,822 have been hired. Another 1,304 are employed in their own studios and stores, with the employment rate for disabled reaching 73.3 percent. The annual budget of NT$200 million (US$6.2 million) provides training for about 1,300 disabled people every year. The CLA has further decided to issue training-subsidy certificates to the disabled, allowing them to take courses that interest them at nearby training institutions. "The courses now provided may not be able to meet their needs, because there are limitations in terms of program, time, location and class size. The CLA therefore likes to help them get appropriate training," Lin explains.
Associate Professor Tsai objects to Article 38 of the Protection Law for the Handicapped and Disabled, which does not allow people without visual impairments to provide massage services. "It looks like the government has paved the way for the blind, but the regulation actually limits their job choices. Furthermore, if the law stipulates a type of job for the blind, should it also allocate jobs to other types of disabled people? A statute cannot be too detailed; otherwise, it will be too burdensome to implement." The common stereotype of blind people as fortune-tellers, masseurs and masseuses should be broken. "They should be allowed to choose any job, as all others do."
Social welfare programs are also provided to help needy disabled. Such programs include not only social welfare allow ances but also health insurance policies. "The social welfare budget for fiscal 1999 is NT$8.5 billion (US$261.5 million), from which NT$4.2 billion (US$129.2 million) is allocated to welfare programs for the disabled," Director Liu explains. At the same time, the Department of Social Affairs pays the national health insurance premiums for the disabled. "Adding the premium, the annual budget for the disabled reaches NT$5.2 billion (US$160 million)--well over half the annual social welfare budget."
Disadvantaged people obtain their allowances and subsidies based on the income of their families. The seriously im paired in low-income families will get an allowance of NT$6,000 (US$185) every month, while the monthly allowance for the slightly impaired in low-income families is NT$3,000 (US$92.50). The disabled in mid-income families get either NT$3,000 or NT$2,000 (US$61.70) per month in accordance with the degree of their disability.
The government also subsidizes private charity organizations that work to help the disabled. However, it is impossible to meet everybody's demand. "We have formed an ad hoc committee to screen each application. For those seeking higher amounts of money, a second round of reviews will be held," Liu says. Since private charity groups cannot continue their operations solely on the basis of fixed government subsidies, they have to raise the needed funds through private donations and expenditure sharing.
"Government subsidies are given on a case-by-case basis," the league's general secretary Wang says. "What we depend on most are periodic, small donations from Taiwan's wage-earners." According to Wang, the Asian economic crisis has influenced wage-earners less, though it is going to have an impact if it lingers. As for corporate donations, they are irregular. "We do collect membership dues. But the annual NT$1,000 (US$30.80) from each member is not even enough for our monthly expenditures," Wang laments. The league now has exactly 200 members, whose primary obligation is to take part in league activities.
The league's main problem is not money, but the Taiwan public's misconceptions of the disabled. If Taiwan is to gain a reputation for being an advanced, humanistic society, its people must learn to accept the handicapped and "offer them a fair opportunity to join mainstream society as fully as possible," Wang says. "There are changes, and there has been progress. In the past, Taiwan's people did not want to have mentally retarded care centers set up in their neighborhoods. But now, they have accepted it." Those who suffer from psychoses are still not accepted, however, and are usually kept at home by their families. Public discussions have been held, attempting to reach a similarly humanitarian consensus for them. "I think this kind of intolerance comes from misunderstanding. We should work hard to improve the Taiwan public's understanding of the disabled."
This is exactly what the league has been doing. "We promote a deeper understanding of the disabled; we do research to set standards for government welfare programs; and we help to train social workers in charity groups, so as to shorten the period of their orientation difficulties." His words point directly to the shortage of licensed specialists in Taiwan. "We don't have enough occupational therapists or physical therapists, not to mention social workers," Wang says. Attributing the cause to the status of such professionals, he says that people know little about these fields. "Social workers should be professionals, and not just 'nice folks,'" as people commonly view them.
Wang further urges those in the government to help create a comprehensively obstruction-free environment for the disabled, because any inadequacies greatly decrease good will. "All public places should meet certain standard access re quirements, so that the disabled can use them without difficulty." NTU's Tsai agrees. "We should set the standard high, because what has been done is not enough at all." Wang and Tsai both cite sidewalk guiding-tiles that lead directly into a tree or a wall, and wheelchair ramps that are simply too steep to be used, as examples of inadequate features of public facilities. Director Liu agrees, and challenges Taiwan's nondisabled people to think in terms of the big picture. "Public facilities are not for the disabled only. All of us will get ill and grow old," Director Liu adds. "Helping the disabled is helping ourselves."