5.2 Profile of Non-Governmental Organizations of/for Persons with Disabilities

The Golden Key Research Center is a non-profit organization established in 1985. The goals of the Center are to assist visually impaired children to attend school and provide them with the necessary special education so that in the future, they can make their own living and return to society equally.

HANDA, founded in 1996, is dedicated to promoting respect and dignity among all human beings, particularly those who have personally faced the challenges of leprosy, also called Hansen's Disease. HANDA has 2,000 members, including people affected by leprosy, health professionals and members of the community at large. HANDA is registered as a non-governmental organization with the Bureau of Public Health and the Bureau of Civil Affairs.

ActionAid China is working to ensure that poor and marginalized people's rights are recognized, protected and fulfilled. To achieve this aim, ActionAid partners with poor and marginalized people to create an environment for them to acquire voice and knowledge so that they themselves can claim their rights and improve their lives.

In May 1998 the first school for the blind in Tibet opened. A rehabilitation and training centre was opened to provide people with visual impairments the ability to participate in society. The program implemented a preparatory school for the blind and produces educational materials for the blind. It also provides a reintegration program for children to return to local schools and/or home life. A vocational training center is also part of the program whereby through vocational training, people will have the ability to generate their own income. The local counter-part for the program is the Tibet Disabled Persons' Federation, a provincial member of the CDPF.

Handicap International has been active in China since January 1998, when the office in Beijing was established and its activities in Guangxi region were initiated. Exploratory work also began in Tibet, culminating in the launch of activities in Lhasa in August 2000. In 2002 the government of Wenshan Prefecture (Yunnan) requested Handicap International to develop a program of support for the victims of leprosy similar to the one developed in Guangxi. Two exploratory missions were organized and the project was intended to begin in 2003.

Over a decade ago, Helen Keller International began working in China. Since then Helen Keller International has supported cataract surgery training for nearly 800 Chinese ophthalmologists while providing technical assistance toward conducting a prevalence survey of trachoma. The results of the survey led to the technical assistance for a trichiasis surgical outreach program.