Opportunities and Challenges: An Examination of Educational Landscape for People with Visual Impairment in China

Abstract

In the last decade, the Chinese government issued several policy documents to guarantee the provision of reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities sitting in the national College Entrance Exam. This study explores how the new policies impact students with visual impairment. It begins by highlighting the recent policy changes in China that provide optimism about attention being paid to equal education opportunities for students with visual impairment. By gathering the statistics on number of students with visual impairment sitting on the college entrance exam in recent years, the paper assesses the reasons why virtually no students with visual impairments are taking the exam compared with their peers without disabilities. In light of significant barriers emerged from the analysis, the paper concludes with opportunities for improvement and directions for future research.