成人论坛

Beijing

It's been something of a holy grail here to try to find 'ordinary Chinese disabled people', to discover just how these are likely to influence their lives, and, by implication, improve them.

It's always in danger of being a patronising search. After all, would you like to be described as an ordinary British disabled person? It's meaningless. I've been as guilty of it as anyone else. It's called 'demand from home', but I hope my conversation with Mr Jung and his wife on Thursday's You and Yours manages to tip-toe round most of the traps.

The point about Mr and Mrs Jung is that they are contented. Mr Jung contracted polio as a child - he either uses crutches or a wheelchair, depending on circumstance. He works as a translator for a water authority. They have a wide circle of friends, they go out for meals from time to time.

When I ask whether Mr Jung gets enough help, he says he does, and mentions that there's also a responsibility on disabled people to make the most of what they have.

Perhaps the most revealing moment is when Mr Jung's wife, Wong Su Lang, explains that she's from the countryside, where she saw very few disabled people, and assumed there weren't many.

When I say that surely there must be plenty, she acknowledges that she knows of some, but they don't go out much; partly because the roads are so bad that if you needed a wheelchair, you wouldn't be able to get far.

Mr Jung becomes most animated when I suggest that there might be quite a lot of things wrong with attitudes to disability in China. When we stop recording he asks me why there is this attitude of disapproval from the West. I try to explain that it's about official unwillingness to give out information, something we're used to taking for granted in the West.

I try to explain that we interpret stilted answers as indicating having something to hide. Debating is not easy through a translator, but I interpret his grunt as an indication that he's unconvinced.

I leave with his words on my mind: "My experience is that Chinese people are kind and caring".

I have no right, or personal evidence, to doubt that assertion.