The programme has helped about 45 autistic people aged between four and 40 to conquer their fears. Participants have been encouraged to engage in pleasurable distractions while waiting, and to spend time getting comfortable in the dentist’s chair before procedures begin. With younger ones, their parents’ mouths are sometimes examined first. One nervous father summoned up the courage to undergo a treatment that his son needed, too.
But among officials and the public, prejudice is fading. In 1988 the government set up the China Disabled People’s Federation , a charity. It boasted star power: until 2008 its head was Deng Pufang, the paraplegic son of Deng Xiaoping, the late Chinese leader and initiator of the one-child policy. The younger Mr Deng broke his back during the Cultural Revolution after he fell from a window while being tormented by Red Guards.
In employment, huge barriers also remain. Firms with more than 30 staff are required to give at least 1.5% of their positions to the disabled. But they worry that hiring them could harm their image. A survey in 2011 by therevealed that more than 90% of companies preferred to pay a fine. After bigger fines were imposed on more profitable firms in 2015, some companies began adding disabled people to their payrolls—paying basic wages and making social-security contributions but giving them no work.
People with disabilities in Western countries are billionaires?