"If I go back to run, the government subsidizes 3000 mosquitoes every month." In the movie "Mom's Wonder Boy", Su Huawei, a track and field athlete who won six Paralympic gold medals for Hong Kong, died after his father was hospitalized for injury. To help make up for the family, temporarily withdraw from sports and work as a courier in the company of his former teammate "Aji".
Approaching the 2008 Beijing Olympics, coach Su Huawei invited him back to the track team where he was working, and Su Huawei said to the coach: "If I go back to run, what's the monthly allowance of 3000!" Even though the movie ends, Su Huawei still returns. Trained on the track and field team, and won the T36 200-meter gold medal in the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games, but Su Huawei’s mother still needs to take over a lot of advertising shooting for him to make ends meet.
Shooting advertisements shouldn't be the job of athletes, but because their funding is too small, they need to make a living from other professions.
In addition, advertisers will only look for outstanding athletes to shoot ads. If there is no outstanding record, the athletes may only find other jobs or even give up sports.
The question is, shouldn’t athletes with disabilities "equal pay for equal work" with able-bodied athletes?
Related article:
Mom’s Wonder Boy·Disability Movement｜From the origin of the Paralympic history to see the contempt of mainstream society
Disabled athletes in Hong Kong have always been treated unequally by society. For example, the subsidies and bonuses granted to able-bodied athletes by the government and the business community are more than double those of disabled athletes.
According to the monthly living support table for disabled athletes of the Sports Institute, the monthly subsidy for full-time elite athletes ranges from $9,720 (Elite C) to $27,000 (Elite A+); the monthly subsidy for full-time non-elite athletes is $2,110 per month ( Elite C) to $7000 (Elite A+).
The most surprising thing is that a Paralympic gold medalist (Elite A+) may only receive a monthly subsidy of 7,000 yuan. It can be seen that Su Huawei's monthly subsidy of 3,000 yuan in the film is not an exaggeration.
In addition, the Henderson Outstanding Athletes Foundation gave out 5 million bonuses to Olympic gold medalists, but only 800,000 Paralympic gold medalists, a difference of more than 6 times.
Xue Huiping pointed out that the government is conscious of equal treatment of disabled athletes, but she believes that the government still needs to discuss with stakeholders about increasing their funding in the future.
(Photo by Gong Jiasheng)
"Because of historical reasons, the government's focus on able-bodied athletes is to allow them to strive for success, but for disabled athletes, their focus is more on their rehabilitation and social integration, so their funding models have been different early on." Xue Huiping, a professor in the Department of Sports Science at CUHK, believes that in the eyes of others, there may be a huge gap in funding or bonuses between the two sides, but in terms of past amounts, the gap between the two sides is slowly narrowing.
According to the previous bonus figures of the Henderson Fund for Outstanding Athletes, the 2012 Olympic gold medal bonus was 300,000, and the Paralympic gold medal was 30,000, a difference of 10 times; the difference between the Olympic gold medal and the Paralympic gold medal this year has narrowed to 6.25 times.
In addition, since the 2017 policy address proposed the implementation of the "Disabled Sports Elite Funding Pilot Program", the government's resources have more than doubled from the original 100 million.
"I think the government is conscious of equal treatment of disabled and able-bodied athletes and deserves encouragement. Can (the amount of subsidy) really make it to the top? I think the government still needs to discuss the increase in the amount of subsidy in the future with stakeholders." Asked how the current government should improve the treatment of disabled athletes, Xue Huiping proposed four directions for improvement.
Direction 1: Review the allowances for various types of disabled athletes
Everyone knows that the subsidy provided by various stakeholders to disabled athletes is extremely small, but how exactly is the most appropriate way to distribute the sponsors?
Xue Huiping explained that the government has regularly reviewed the evaluation criteria of the funding scheme, and government funding for disabled athletes has begun to become more diversified.
But she believes that even if living allowances are equal, it does not necessarily mean that they receive equal distribution of resources.
Disabled athletes need to use more equipment, such as wheelchair fencing, badminton, etc. In addition to a "good sword" and a "good racket", athletes also need a wheelchair that meets the competition specifications and fits the athlete—— Competition wheelchairs are very different from the wheelchairs used by athletes for daily transportation. In addition, intense competitions can easily lead to rapid wear and tear of wheelchairs.
"Should we provide a full range of equipment subsidies based on each project and the level of athletes? Disabled athletes need more equipment than healthy athletes. Instead of providing "one-off" subsidies, should they be based on their Need to provide different types of funding?" Xue Huiping asked.
Although the Hong Kong Olympic Committee for the Disabled and the Sports Association for the Disabled (hereinafter referred to as HKPC&SAPD) will provide training reserves for athletes to purchase sports equipment, provide transportation and meals, but the amount is relatively small.
Therefore, the government and various stakeholders should continue to review the amount and amount of subsidy, so that athletes with disabilities can focus on training without worrying about their livelihoods.
Competition wheelchairs are very different from the wheelchairs used by athletes for their daily mobility. In addition, fierce competitions can easily cause wheelchairs to wear out quickly, and maintenance and repairs also require funds.
(Provided by the Disabled Sports Association)
Direction 2: Provide further study opportunities
Xue Huiping pointed out that some disabled athletes are unable to attend mainstream schools like able-bodied students because of their severe disability. Some people even fail to attend college or even start working and training before graduating from middle school.
She believes that under these special restrictions, they may hope to enroll in advanced courses in the future to improve their academic qualifications and make arrangements for their retirement arrangements.
However, there is no obvious on-the-job patching for the disabled, only on-the-job training programs.
Therefore, the government and stakeholders should consider setting up a training fund for disabled athletes, so that they can reduce the financial burden of learning certificate courses or tertiary institutions.
Furthermore, part-time athletes have to allocate time for training. Not every refresher course can match their training time. Stakeholders may find suitable and interested certificate or degree courses for them.
Direction 3: Provide employment support
In the current situation of insufficient funding, many disabled athletes will choose to be part-time athletes and work in hours that do not require training, and some hope to have a stable job to survive after retirement.
Xue Huiping suggested that employment support can be provided for athletes, such as employment consultation, job referral, internship opportunities, etc.
In addition, work support after retirement is equally important. Xue Huiping cited as an example that Zhang Weiliang, the former Hong Kong wheelchair representative and Ye Shaokang, the former Hong Kong disabled equestrian representative, are models for Hong Kong disabled athletes to retire.
Zhang Weiliang currently holds many public positions and actively promotes the welfare of the disabled; Ye Shaokang is currently the chairman of the China-Hong Kong Cultural Exchange Promotion Association and has organized internship programs in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to increase employment opportunities for young people.
She believes that they are models of retired athletes with disabilities, and can first stabilize the mentality of retired athletes.
In the movie "Mom's Wonder Boy", Su Huawei worked as a courier to support his family before the Beijing Olympics, as did his retired teammate, Aji, and the courier company treated employees badly.
If the government, social welfare agencies and other stakeholders can provide more consultation or introduction, and cooperate with employers to provide jobs for active or retired athletes, it may reduce the athletes’ work pressure and ensure the quality of their work.
The government may also consider cooperating with retired athletes to provide employment seminars, so that athletes can better understand the possibilities of work after retirement, and at the same time reduce the feeling of hesitation about retirement.
Xue Huiping suggested that the government can provide employment support for athletes, such as employment consultation, job referrals, and internship opportunities.
(Information Picture/Photo by Huang Baoying)
Direction 4: Guarantee after retirement
"Why don't you look at the silver code first... Actually, there is a good time, the most profitable time is 㗎 La Wei Zi. Has Wei Zi ever retired after retiring? In Hong Kong, a normal athlete retired. It's hard to get food, let alone Wei Zai." In the movie, the sports manager said to Su Huawei's mother.
Indeed, Hong Kong's post-retirement protection for disabled athletes can be described as "very few".
At present, elite athletes, whether able-bodied or disabled, as long as they have won medals at the Asian Adult Championships and have been full-time for at least 8 years, after retirement, they can apply for a lump sum payment through the "Elite Sports Outstanding Performance Recognition Scheme", ranging from HK$245,000 to 984,000 ; As for the "Hong Kong Athlete Fund", it can also provide an annual education subsidy of 70,000 yuan for each post-secondary degree course and 20,000 yuan for each short-term sports certificate course.
However, retired athletes with disabilities do not enjoy retirement employment protection like healthy athletes. Only the "Sports Development and Support Fund" subsidizes athletes to participate in workshops, seminars and conferences. The maximum amount of subsidy is half of the activity.
From the above funding content, it can be seen that after retirement, disabled athletes can be described as "abandoned children." Many retired athletes have also publicly criticized that government funding alone cannot make a living.
Xue Huiping said that if the government and stakeholders can do the above-mentioned directions two and three as soon as possible, they can better assist athletes to adapt to their life after retirement and find their own suitable jobs as soon as possible.
The society and the government often "underestimate" the importance of sports for the disabled, but they expect elite athletes to win glory for Hong Kong.
However, the treatment of athletes with disabilities and its social value and athlete performance often complement each other.
The attitude of the government or society towards disabled athletes will directly affect the willingness of disabled athletes to participate in sports.
Eliteization and popularization are inseparable from the direction of sports policy. Only when more people with disabilities participate in sports, more potential athletes will be born; on the contrary, "if parents know that they are athletes, they will also have good retirement protection. They will naturally encourage their children to participate." Xue Huiping said that although the support for elite sports is important, there should be no lack of sports support for special schools.
Students with special needs must be interested in sports before they can slowly be trained to the elite level.
Sitting volleyball can be played not only by the disabled, but also by the able-bodied. This type of sport can help the able-bodied and the disabled to understand each other.
(Getty Images)
Furthermore, sports are the easiest way to integrate people with disabilities into society.
Xue Huiping explained that there are many "disabled" sports that not only can participate in people with disabilities, but also able-bodied people can also participate together, such as seated volleyball. Whether the participant is disabled or not will not affect the way volleyball is played.
She has cooperated with the Jockey Club to establish the "Jockey Club "Sports Without Boundaries" Youth and Youth Fitness Program" to enable students from special schools to participate in high-intensity sports and maintain their physical and mental health. In addition, they will also invite able-bodied and disabled students to participate. Different sports have made the two sides understand each other, "Gender, age, race can be inclusive, and so can the disabled." Public education is extremely important for social integration, and the government's equal treatment of disabled athletes is also an important part of public education.
If the government fails to take the lead in showing respect for the disability movement, I am afraid it will be difficult for Hong Kong to achieve an inclusive society with the disabled.
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/GP2ZXWJRROQQUNBAGJPH3WIOVQ.jpg)