Tan Jingsong

Despite earning top marks on the test administered to all his fellow applicants, Tan Jingsong was not considered for the government job he had applied to in Yueyang, Hunan province. 

Tan, 24, has no sight in his right eye and only minimal vision in his left. On May 20, the Yueyang Human Resources Bureau released a hiring notice for several positions, none of which included specific physical requirements. Encouraged to apply by the local Disabled Persons’ Federation, the young law school graduate signed up for job application test.

Considering his previous record of academic excellence, Tan unsurprisingly took the number one spot among applicants who sat for the written exam. However, the bureau nevertheless rejected Tan for the post based on the General Standard for the Physical Examination of Civil Servants, which stipulates a vision threshold of 0.8 or above in both eyes. Tan’s left eye has a corrected vision of 0.3.

The Disabled Persons’ Federation has since stated that Tan’s rejection constitutes employment discrimination against the disabled. According to Chao Xiangyang, deputy director of the Federation, the central government has published several documents requesting local governments and public institutions to take the lead in arranging employment for disabled people.

“The State Council and Hunan provincial government have clearly stated in previous decrees that disabled employees should account for at least 1.5 percent of the total employees in public institutions,” Chao explained, adding that the Yunxi district currently employs no government officials with disabilities.

Regarding Tan’s rejection, the Legal Affairs Office responded that the General Standard is a basic requirement for any potential candidate. Tan’s condition could be problematic in the case of an emergency, the office said.

Chao responded,“The General Standard fails to take disabled people into consideration. It practically invalidates any other legal protections that are supposed to support employment for the disabled.”

Associate Professor Liu Xiaonan of China University of Political Science and Law also believes that the General Standard is not sufficiently post-specific, and that this may cause institutional discrimination.

“Disabled people in public service can better reflect the civilization and equality of a country,” Liu emphasized.