Emergencies and setbacks / Chapter 33
This section is about life after a disability has already happened. How to prevent disability is in Section 1 and Section 13; it is not repeated here.
The four score types are kept separate and are not converted into one another. Items on emergencies and complications are scored on mortality. Items on subsidies, benefits, and lawsuits are scored on money. Items on schooling and paperwork are scored on time. Items on psychiatric hospitalization, capacity, and guardianship are scored on personal liberty.
The WHO fact sheet on disability (残疾), published in March 2023, gives three figures. About 1.3 billion people worldwide have significant functional difficulty — 16% of the world population, roughly one in six. Some people with disabilities die up to 20 years earlier than people without disabilities. Their risk of depression, asthma, diabetes, stroke, obesity, or poor oral health is twice as high. The fact sheet states that these health gaps come from unfair conditions people with disabilities face: discrimination, poverty, barriers to school and work, and barriers inside the health system itself. So half the items in this section are about the body, and half are about procedures and rights.
Five topics already covered elsewhere are only pointed to here, not repeated. How to get a disability certificate, the seven categories, and levels 1 to 4 are in Section 24, item 10 (disability certificate). When to do a disability assessment is in Section 24, item 9 (disability assessment). How to claim the two disability subsidies is in Section 7, item 8 (the two subsidies). Work-capacity assessment after a work injury and how grades convert into money are in Section 19, item 14 (work-capacity assessment). How to apply for long-term care insurance for severe disability is in Section 17, item 7 (long-term care insurance). That item sits in the “older people at home” section, but the benefit has no age floor — younger people can claim it too.
Most items in this section benefit you and your family, the top two beneficiary tiers. Places that involve other people are noted separately in Notes.
Items in this section are grouped by theme below (numbers in parentheses are item numbers).
Body and rehabilitation: sudden severe headache after spinal cord injury (item 1); switch the wheelchair cushion to a pressure-relieving type (item 5); do not buy therapies that claim to cure paralysis (item 6); do rehabilitation at a proper facility (item 16); get a hearing aid when hearing declines (item 17); after spinal cord injury, do not leave an indwelling catheter in long term without a plan (item 21).
Benefits and subsidies: go to the Disabled Persons’ Federation (残联) and ask about every benefit at once (item 7); apply for rehabilitation aid for a disabled child (item 8); apply for subsidies for ramps, handrails, and bathroom modifications (item 9); personal income tax reduction (item 11).
Work and rights: say at job search that you hold a disability certificate (item 10); if you are refused hire because of disability, you can sue (item 20).
School and travel: take a guide dog into public places (item 12); apply for reasonable accommodations on the gaokao (高考) (item 13); schools must not refuse a disabled child (item 14); you can still take a driving test with both lower limbs missing (item 15).
Mental health and caregivers: suicide risk in the first decade after disability (item 2); caregivers must look after their own health (item 4).
Mental disorders and guardianship: psychiatric hospitalization is voluntary in principle (item 3); capacity must be determined by a court application (item 18); guardians follow the statutory order (item 19).
In someone with a spinal cord injury, part of the body’s alarm wiring is cut. A full bladder or tight clothes may not be felt, yet blood pressure can shoot up. The signal is sudden severe headache and sweating. …
Long-term follow-up at two UK spinal cord injury centres found this group’s suicide rate is five times that of the general population. Over nine-tenths of the suicides happened in the first decade after injury. …
A family member or workplace cannot keep someone in a psychiatric hospital with one sentence. …
Caregiver burnout is not fussiness. A U.S. study followed more than 800 older adults for four years. …
In nursing homes, older adults on pressure-relieving cushions had clearly fewer pressure ulcers at the sitting bones than those on ordinary segmented foam cushions, but when the coccyx was counted together the difference did not show. …
The Advertising Law (广告法) draws a hard line. Ads for medical care, drugs, or medical devices must not guarantee efficacy, must not state cure rates or effectiveness rates, and must not use endorsers to recommend or prove. …
The disability certificate itself does not pay money; it is a key. Behind it sit several separate benefits, each needing its own application — none arrive on their own. …
The state has a rehabilitation-aid system for children with disabilities and autism from ages 0 to 6, covering surgery, assistive devices, and rehab training. …
The Law on the Construction of a Barrier-Free Environment (无障碍环境建设法) states that people’s governments at county level and above shall support and guide home barrier-free modifications. …
Employers must hire persons with disabilities at no less than 1.5% of headcount; provinces set the exact share. …
The Individual Income Tax Law (个人所得税法) says income of persons with disabilities may have individual tax reduced. How much and for how long is left to provincial governments, so provinces differ. …
The law states that public places and public transport shall make it convenient for persons with disabilities who bring guide dogs, hearing dogs, or assistance dogs. …
Disabled candidates taking the gaokao (高考) may apply for Braille papers, large-print papers, exemption from foreign-language listening, a separate exam room, hearing aids and wheelchairs in the room, and extended exam time. …
Kindergartens and schools of all kinds must not refuse enrollment of eligible disabled children; ordinary vocational schools are the same. …
If the right lower limb or both lower limbs are missing or cannot move, but you can sit steadily on your own and the upper limbs meet the conditions, you can take the test for a disability-dedicated automatic small-car licence, code C5. …
After a stroke, people admitted to an organized stroke unit are more often still alive and still living at home one year later. …
The claim that “hearing aids prevent dementia” has not held up so far. A nearly thousand-person three-year trial showed no overall difference. …
Whether an adult has “no civil capacity” or “limited civil capacity” can be determined only by a court. Family, workplace, or residents’ committees cannot decide on their own. …
After an adult loses capacity, guardians follow this order: spouse; parents and children; other close relatives; last, other persons or organizations agreed to by the residents’ committee and the like. …
The law forbids discriminating against persons with disabilities in hiring, conversion to regular status, promotion, professional titles, pay, and social insurance. You can complain to the competent department, or sue in court. …
After spinal cord injury, if you cannot void, the bladder must be emptied by catheterization or similar means. In UK data spanning seventy years, over one-tenth of deaths were in the genitourinary system. …
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