If the degree of respect people with disabilities get is a benchmark to measure how civilized a society is, we fall far short of what is required of such a society, at least in this regard.

Huang Rui, who has infantile paralysis, recently applied to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security for information about the number of people with disabilities government departments have recruited as civil servants. Huang took part in the examinations in 2011 but was rejected in the interview.

State Council regulations on the promotion of employment for people with disabilities, which came into effect in 2007, stipulate that the number of people with disabilities that government institutions and enterprises employ should not be less than 1.5 percent of their total employees.

Yet statistics from the ministry show that only 92 people with disabilities were recruited as civil servants nationwide in the past five years. As the number of civil servants recruited by both central and local governments was in excess of 10,000 a year during this period, more than 700 people with disabilities should have been recruited if the rules had been strictly adhered to.

Huang wants to know how many disabled government employees there are in both central and local governments, how many of them are working in associations for disabled persons at various levels and how they are distributed in different government departments.

Despite the various regulations concerning the equal rights and special care people with disabilities are supposed to get, discrimination against them is common in employment. A survey conducted in 2007 about employment discrimination shows people with disabilities were listed as one of the groups most vulnerable to unfair treatment.

Both central and local governments are supposed to set a good example in abiding by State rules. But they fail to do so when it comes to the recruitment of people with disabilities.

Huang is justified in seeking to obtain such information from the ministry, which has the obligation to disclose the information according to the State Council regulations. The ministry is also supposed to explain why fewer people with disabilities have been recruited than is required by the regulations.

This incident should serve as a wake-up call that the rules should be strictly observed.

(China Daily 12/07/2012 page8)