Job Discussion Forums

[Czaerana]

If you have a physical disability, think twice about going to China. Over 30 years ago, when I was 13 yo, I developed a rare autoimmune disorder called scleroderma. The main result was that my hands ended up contracted. I adapted, eventually getting a law degree and practicing law. I drive, write, type, crochet, make jewelry, etc. About the only thing I can't do is a handstand. After getting TESOL certified, in March 2010 I had a job teaching English in a college in Deyang. I taught for two months, but had to go home due to a severe chest cold (bad pollution in Deyang). There didn't seem to be a problem re: perceived disability. I got a job at a college in Jiangmen to start this week. Emails said "Welcome to our college! We're glad you'll teach here!" When I got there, the dean of the department and the FAO were away. But someone made sure to call her and tell her about me! Then a teacher there said the dean would have to meet me and discuss my "problem." When I met her, she said this would be our interview. I was gobsmacked. I told them that I didn't fly around the world for an interview, that we had had 2 phone interviews, and that I had emails to prove I was offered the job. She hemmed and hawed, saying maybe I couldn't write on the chalkboard, etc. There was more BS, saying higher ups would have to approve. Needless to say, I told them I wouldn't stay (not as if they would "hire" me anyway). I looked for other positions since I was in China anyway. I accepted an offer to teach in a kindergarten in Beijing. Deja vu all over again. This time I was dealing with idiots who don't think I could handle a pen (yes, that's what the woman who "hired" me here said when I talked to her on the phone. Not that we ever met. No, her decision was based on what the person who picked me up at the airport told her). I'm a highly educated professional with 20 years of working experience. How do these idiots think I got to where I am? China will never be a First World country with these attitudes. Good bye China.

[7969]

your story is a good (yet sad) one. many chinese have little time for people with disabilities, but that's the culture - they prefer to hide their disabled as they see it as something to be ashamed of. but i am aware of a few people in China who are disabled.

i had one student last year who is lame as she has a deformed foot. but i never noticed it for almost the entire year because she was very good at concealing the disability. i never mentioned this disability to her, we never talked about it, but i admire that girl more than most simply because she has to overcome additional difficulty.

i had another student who suffered from cancer and ended up having his arm amputated at the shoulder. same story, i have the utmost respect for him because he's back at school now (a year later) and is on his way to overcoming what will be a minefield of obstacles in his way.

Good luck in the future Czaerana.

[Czaerana]

One of the many things that is galling about what happened is that, if I could have taught and interacted with those little kindergarten kids, I could maybe have shaped their attitudes towards people with disabilities. Maybe they wouldn't have the prejudices of their elders.

[LanGuTou]

I am sorry to say that what you have come up against probably has nothing to do with the leaders believing that you cannot hold chalk or a pen. I think it is more to do with the simple fact that you do carry a disability and what the parents of the kindergarten children may think about it.

Yes, it is horrible when put this way but the perception is disability means substandard. I would wager a guess that the school are more concerned about profit margin and keeping parents happy than your ability to cope with the job.

Sad but that's China!

[Teatime of Soul]

Sorry to hear of the outcome. But kudos to you for giving them what sounds like quite a push back.

[Czaerana]

[roadwalker]

Sorry for your treatment. It's too bad that you didn't arrive as they were videotaping a public service announcement. Maybe things are starting to change: many of the university women ('girls') learn sign language for example. But that may taper off as the after affects of the Olympics and Paralympics, and the international attention, of course, wear off. And deaf people don't look different until they talk.

At any rate, if and when China changes in this regard, it won't be because foreigners who can't do handstands invade, but because stubborn Chinese with disabilities don't back down. I really think there are schools in China that would be glad to have you teach, but with visa rules it's not a cheap proposition to find them.

[Cairnsman]

The discrimination that you experienced at the Jiangmen college and the Beijing kindergarten was both unjustified and mean-spirited. Period.

Discrimination, in many forms, is widespread in China but it is not omnipresent. There are some open-minded employers.

At a Chongqing university, I worked with an American guy whose left arm was totally dead and at a Wuxi college with a one-armed Canadian guy. And you held a job at Deyang.

On my for-China-only resume, I specify my age, height, weight and provide a full body photograph; for my benefit. I don't want to risk being messed about by any school that (later) perceives any of my characteristics as undesirable.

You can be principled and omit information about your hands; it has nothing to do with your capacity to be an effective teacher, or you can inform all prospective employers that yours hands have an unusual appearance but nonetheless remain functional.

Principles or pragmatism? Macro or micro? For the long-term benefit of all, or the immediate benefit of oneself?

[Zero]

[Jared]

You taught in Deyang in Sichuan Province? I was teaching at a school there for a brief time. A primary school. The social isolation that a foreigner receives in Deyang should be enough to compel any foreigner to leave. People that at first seem to like you, take your phone number, and after that they never want anything to do with you again. Each city in China is different. But Deyang is a city I have no respect for. It is well developed and what not, but it's not a city that a foreigner would want to live in.

[Gtomas]

I'm sorry that you had to experience those things, but I want to let you know--you being a qualified teacher--you may be able to find work teaching ESL in more developed economies where they will have a more Western view of your "disability."

It's a shame you were never given the chance to affect the minds of younger Chinese, but the mainland simply doesn't seem ready for it.

It's easy to deride China for shortcomings like this but we need to remember that about 60 years ago Americans were locking disabled family members up in sanatoriums and pretending they didn't even exist anymore. Things change. Give it time.

[Jared]

Deyang is fairly well developed. Just not a place for foreigners. Stick with cities with alot of internationalization. Heck if I had proper qualification, I'd be in taiwan.

[aliana_weston]

[aliana_weston]

[7969]

Many of us agree with the general sentiment of your posts - China is changing but let it unfold and occur at whatever pace they set for themselves. On a related note Doc, did you miss the unit on bedside manner during your training?