SPP publishes guide cases on disabled

Authorities continue to improve legal protection for people with disabilities, and to ensure they can find employment.

The Supreme People's Procuratorate and the China Disabled Persons' Federation jointly issued 10 typical public interest litigation cases on Friday that cover various aspects of protecting the rights the disabled to help procuratorates nationwide deal with cases.

May 15 is National Day for Helping the Disabled, and this year's theme is "promoting employment and protecting the rights and interests of the disabled".

Chinese law has a series of provisions to ensure the employment of the disabled. Preferential policies and supportive and protective measures have been adopted to gradually promote, stabilize and rationalize the employment of disabled persons through multiple channels, at various levels and in various forms, said Xie Hongde, an inspector with the CDPF's Department of Education and Employment.

By the end of 2021, about 8.82 million disabled were employed nationwide.

"However, some employers still have an incorrect understanding and find reasons to not employ the disabled, which has lead to a very negative social impact," said Xie.

Hu Weilie, head of the SPP's Eighth Procuratorial Office, said discrimination makes it even more difficult for the disabled to find work, which restricts their ability to integrate into society and all-around development.

Procuratorial organs have supervised the correct implementation of laws on the protection of the rights of the disabled, and have worked to eliminate job discrimination against them, Hu said.

The protection of disabled rights is one of the key aspects in the new field of public interest litigation. From November 2019 to December 2021, procuratorial organs nationwide handled nearly 4,000 cases related to the construction of disabled accessible environments, according to the SPP.

Since 2021, the scope of public interest litigation cases involving the disabled has been expanded to include areas like employment, education, rehabilitation, social security, cultural life and information security, Hu said.

At present, there are about 90 laws and over 50 administrative regulations directly related to the protection of the rights of the disabled, while the central government and other departments have issued several documents since last year to ensure they have access to employment.