“Building Dreams” for Children with Disabilities in China

At Save the Children, we believe all children deserve an equal chance for a quality education. In China, children with disabilities are amongst the most deprived and face particular challenges in accessing and completing a quality education. Government data suggest that about a third of special needs children do not complete nine years of compulsory education. Over the past decade, Save the Children has been advocating in China to help children with disabilities go to mainstream schools and study with other children. We launched a photography project in 2017 as a way to raise public awareness of the situation. We invited Yuyang Liu, a freelance photographer, to teach children of mixed abilities to express themselves through photography. One participant, an optimistic and outgoing boy named Xiaozhi from Jingdong County in Pu’er City of Yunnan Province, was enthralled by the potential of photography to tell stories. Due to family genetics, he is much shorter than children of the same age. The photographs taken by Xiaozhi and his friends show the joy that inclusive education brings to their lives. In 2018, we helped these children realise their dreams by organising a photo exhibition tour – which served as an effective public engagement opportunity to further raise awareness of the right of every child to quality education, and help children with disabilities access general education.