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Disability is no problem
High scorer on pre-law test awaits university's decision on whether he will be allowed to enroll in law school
Wu Jiao
Shanghai_Delta
page02 2006-3-21
NANJING: Li Chensong is a pretty smart guy, judging from the numbers he scored on almost all of the major examinations he has taken in his lifetime.
But three times he has been kept outside the gate of his dream universities because, unlike his brain, which is superior, his body is disabled.
Li now faces uncertainty, again. Despite scoring 380 on the entrance examination for the law school at Suzhou University in January, he is not at all certain he will be allowed to enter.
Li's story aroused considerable discussion among the public in East China's Jiangsu Province after it appeared in the local newspaper.
Li, 28, was born with deformed arms and no lower legs in Xiqiao Town, Huai'an city in north Jiangsu.
"When I was born, the entire family was in great dismay for quite a long time, predicting my future as very troublesome," said Li in retrospect.
But he persevered. After learning to walk on his knees at the age of 6, he entered
the local primary school at the age of 8 and learned to write with the two fingers on his left hand.
"He learnt quickly and made remarkable progress. But he paid 10 times the price compared with his healthy counterparts," recalled Ji Zhaolong, the headmaster of the Lixi Primary School, where Li studied from 1985 to 1990.
Li progressed with equal excellence during his middle school years, but when he tried to enroll in college he encountered opposition of a kind he had never known before. He was turned down in 1996, 1997 and 2002 by universities for which he had qualified with impressive scores in the National Entrance Examination to Colleges.
"The regulation set by the Ministry of Education that those whose both legs or both arms are dysfunctional could not be enrolled by universities was the excuse given by the three universities. But I didn't belong to this category because all of my four limbs are usable," Li said with a sad smile.
Li obtained a bachelor's degree in English Language and Literature from Nanjing Normal University and another from Nanjing University in law by 2002, through self-study. In 2003 he became the first man in the country with four disabled limbs to receive the certificate to become a lawyer.
In February, he passed the examination for postgraduate study in the School of Law in Suzhou University with a score much higher than the passing grade of 340.
But whether he will be enrolled is still a question.
Sources at the university, where several disabled students have previously studied, said that if Li was excellent enough, there was still hope that he would be admitted. The final decision will be made by the provincial education bureau, said sources.
Li's story still provokes heated discussion.
A member of the enrollment team of Nanjing University surnamed Wang said that the enrollment regulation of the Ministry of Education should respect the educational rights of that special group of people to which Li belongs.
A lawyer from a Suzhou-based law firm even said he would hire Li and help him with living expenses if he were enrolled by Suzhou University.
But Li, who claims to be a very optimistic person, is prepared for another blow.
However, to be a lawyer to protect the rights of millions of disabled people is his foremost dream, he said.
He earns about 400 to 500 yuan (US$50 to 62) a month tutoring middle school students.
"I am totally independent in managing my life. I just hope that the colleges will take this fact into consideration and not reject disabled people who are also clever and independent," said Li. |
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