RWI’s China Programme has since 2012 supported multi-disciplinary research on disability issues in China in cooperation with Wuhan University Public Interest and Development Law Institute (PIDLI) and Wuhan East-Lake Institute for Social Advancement (EISA). The purpose of this collaboration has been to bring together different stakeholders from academia, disabled people’s organisations and government institutions to formulate a common rights-based research and policy development agenda, replacing outdated medical and charity-based understandings of disability.
Our Impact
A key result of this cooperation has been the establishment of a network of disability researchers with a common aim to effectively promote the rights of persons with disabilities through their work in public sectors, civil society organisations and academic institutions.
Another accomplishment is the annual publication of the yearbook Disabilities Rights Studies in China since 2014, which has become a well-known and influential publication in the field of disability studies in China. Available here.
Workshop on multi-disciplinary disability research, Wuhan 2017
While the Covid-19 pandemic impacts all members of society, persons with disabilities and older people are disproportionately affected due to attitudinal, environmental and institutional barriers which are reproduced in times of crises.
In light of this, RWI in 2020 supported a research project addressing the rights of persons with disabilities and older persons during the Covid-19 pandemic. The result of this research – a collaboration between RWI experts and two Chinese research teams – was published in 2021: The Rights of Persons with Disabilities and Older Persons in a Pandemic: Findings from Two Studies Conducted in China.
Read more about our initiatives:
Human Rights Education and Academic Cooperation
Anti-discrimination, Gender Equality and Women’s Human Rights
Global China – Business, Human Rights and the Environment