Paralympics lead to accessible subway system in Beijing

From the Wired blog Sept. 9:

In what may be the most significant improvement in human rights brought about by the 2008 Olympics and Paralympics, Beijing has become less of a Forbidden City for the disabled. Even though more than one million disabled people live within its city limits, Beijing's crowded subway was practically inaccessible to anyone not able to rush to the front of the platform on their own two feet. Now, according to the official Chinese government information site china.org.cn, the improvements made in preparation for the Games will become permanent, allowing disabled riders to travel without barriers.

"I can't believe this is true. Three hours ago I was at home, and now I'm here with all these others watching Paralympic Games competitions," randomly-selected wheelchair-bound Beijing citizen Wang Shufen said. "The volunteers and subway and bus workers were really helpful. Without them, I would never have made it." Of course, China.org.cn made sure to note that the 70-year-old Wang was smiling all through her interview, and never mentioned whether she lived ten feet or ten miles from the stadium. Still, for a city that banned the country's few guide dogs and disqualified the disabled from entrance to many schools, any effort to open the city's
transit infrastructure to the disabled is a welcome change.

So far, according to Xinhua, the Beijing Subway Company has installed a "barrier free" entrance and exit at each one of its 123 stations and hired subway workers to assist the disabled in reaching their eventual destination. Beijingers who need assistance in their travels need only call a special hotline (6834 5678) to request a guide who will meet them at their desired station to guide them. Additionally, the LA Times reports the city has purchased 2,000 "kneeling buses" that lower to the curb for wheelchair accessibility, and guide dogs have been allowed onto all public transit. Xinhua says that waiting areas have been specially marked for wheelchair users, as shown above. We hope that mandatory nationwide courses in proper queueing included instructions on not trampling the disabled.

Shockingly, not all is as rosy as the state-run media reports. Prejudice against the disabled threatens to undo many of the steps the city has taken to improve it's reputation for being difficult for the disabled to navigate. Beijing Normal University professor Qian Zhiliang told the LA Times that traditional Chinese beliefs often blame the disabled for having done something wrong in a previous life, and reinforce that they don't need accessible transportation because they are not supposed to travel. "A lot of these ideas about human rights for the disabled were introduced from the outside and are only slowly being accepted," Qian said.