Chao News client reporter Zhang Ran.
Ge Yuanbo stood on a moot court for the first time as an actor.
This year, a 39-year-old deaf man, in a labor arbitration moot court, played the role of a complainant, and expressed his demands with his hands and mouth.
Characters are fictional.
However, in life, Ge Yuanbo, an online car-hailing driver, also encountered a similar problem: he was caught in a traffic dispute case, but as a deaf person, he did not communicate well, and every time he wanted to fight for his legitimate rights and interests, he needed to turn to the Hangzhou Sign Language Sister Barrier-free Communication Service Center and appeal accompanied by a translation teacher.
It's not just me who feels like I'm struggling to communicate when I'm faced with legal issues. Many of my disabled friends have encountered legal problems, and they also feel anxious, distressed, unable to communicate, and do not know what to do next. Ge Yuanbo said.
Ge Yuanbo is expressing himself in sign language. Photo by reporter Zhang Ran.
Recently, on the bank of the Qiantang River, a seminar on the construction of a barrier-free environment with "law popularization" as the core was held, and many hearing-impaired and physically disabled people participated in the role of a mock court.
Afraid of bothering others, unable to communicate, and poor ability to receive information, behind the legal blind spots of all kinds of disabled people, their legal needs are not a lot. According to the data compiled by the sign language sister, a social organization that has been engaged in sign language professional services, has a team of nearly 100 sign language interpreters, from 2021 to mid-2023 alone, the cumulative amount of economic cases for the disabled has reached tens of millions. "They have a wide range of legal aid needs, especially in economic fraud cases. The staff said.
The legal needs of people with disabilities,More than you think
If I hadn't had my sister in sign language to help translate, would I have been arrested?”
Ge Yuanbo described the state of mind when encountering traffic disputes. In September 2022, Ge Yuanbo met a passer-by on the way to drive an online car-hailing car, and the initial judgment was entirely on Ge Yuanbo, surrounded by able-bodied people, Ge Yuanbo could not communicate, and the sign language was compared to the geek, but no one could understand it.
It was very difficult to appeal, so Ge Yuanbo turned to the Hangzhou Sign Language Sister Barrier-free Communication Service Center for help.
Every time Ge Yuanbo goes to see a lawyer, our sign language interpreter will go with him and help him communicate with the lawyer. The staff of the Sign Language Sister Barrier-free Communication Service Center said that its more than 100 sign language interpreters will try to accompany them every time they ask for help, and if the conditions are really limited, they will also translate.
Legal needs for people with disabilities like Ge Yuanbo are not uncommon.
Gather together to talk about accessibility. Photo by reporter Zhang Ran.
There are all kinds of needs, such as private lending, marriage, inheritance, investment and financial management, employment and entrepreneurship, renting and buying houses. "Zhang Haozhe, a lawyer at Zhejiang Jingheng Law Firm, has been volunteering for law popularization for two years, and has been in contact with countless legal consultations for people with disabilities, including various types. The disabled group is inconvenient to communicate, but they encounter no fewer problems than the able-bodied, so their demand for legal services is very strong.
Zhang Haozhe, together with Wang Shuxian, a lawyer from Zhejiang Jingheng Law Firm, provides legal answers for the disabled and provides possible dispute resolution or handling paths. "Since the launch of the legal popularization course project for the hearing-impaired in 2022, we have learned that the number of hearing-impaired groups is very large, with more than 20,000 people holding disability certificates alone. ”
According to the data compiled by the Hangzhou Sign Language Sister Barrier-free Communication Service Center, compared with other types of legal needs, the demand for economic fraud legal services is the most prominent. "In the past two and a half years, we have come into contact with a large number of disabled people seeking help from financial fraud legal services, accumulating tens of millions of dollars, but in the end, only a few disabled people can recover the money. ”
Persons with disabilities use the "law**".Why is it so hard?
A mock courtroom reveals the hard part of legal rights protection for people with disabilities.
You haven't seen a real legal communication scenario for people with disabilities, it's very complicated. The staff of the Hangzhou Sign Language Sister Barrier-free Communication Service Center explained that sign language is similar to the language of able-bodied people, and there are also differences between dialect sign language and Mandarin sign language. If a complainant who can only speak sign language in dialect needs to use an interpreter who can speak Mandarin sign language when communicating with the able-bodied person in the law, which is time-consuming and laborious.
Ge Yuanbo said that when many people with disabilities encounter legal problems, like him, their first reaction is anxiety, and then they can only wait. "We were lonely, we couldn't receive information from the people around us, and they didn't understand what we meant. ”
The moot court attracted people with disabilities. Photo by reporter Zhang Ran.
People with disabilities live in a relatively narrow circle, and they will easily trust people, and they often have a greater probability of encountering fraud. The staff said, but the follow-up recovery communication cost is very high, and the nearly 100 sign language interpreters under the sign language sister are not enough to meet the large number of translation and communication needs of the disabled, "but we are still insisting, because if these disabled people do not ask us to help translate, they don't know who else to go to." ”
Psychological pressure also prevents them from taking a step forward and seeking help.
Zhang Haozhe said that many people with disabilities feel that they are physically inconvenient, which has brought trouble to society, and they are afraid that their demand for legal services will bring a greater burden to society. "Some people with disabilities are ashamed to express themselves, thinking that they are stupid to be deceived, and they are afraid to tell the outside world about their needs. ”
Information accessibility,It is an important part of building a barrier-free environment
Once I was giving a lecture, the uncle in the first row was very excited, and told me that he came to listen to my lecture last year, and after he went back, he collected evidence according to the method I said, boldly defended his rights and sued, and finally, he asked for the money that others owed for a long time. Zhang Haozhe said that this was the first time he got feedback on the content of the lecture, and at this moment, he felt that the lecture on law popularization was meaningful and played a positive role in the disabled people picking up the law, and everything was done in vain.
Since 2022, after learning about the special reading Xi habits of the hearing-impaired group, the grammatical characteristics of sign language, and the common legal risks of the hearing-impaired group, Zhang Haozhe has designed courseware that is easy for the hearing-impaired group to understand and practice, and completed the roving public welfare law popularization courses in various urban areas of Hangzhou together with the Sign Language Sister Center.
The help for the disabled group, and more importantly, communication, warms their hearts. Zhang Haozhe said that recently, after reporting to the leaders of the industry association, he is cooperating with the Deaf Association and the Sign Language Sister Center to build a barrier-free public interest legal service platform for the hearing-impaired group.
Zhang Hua, president of the Hangzhou Association for the Promotion of Barrier-free Environment, said that due to his own health and fear of troublesome others, he often did not drink water in the morning when he worked in his former workplace, reducing the chance of going to the toilet. However, the environment is slowly changing in recent years, and the "Barrier-free Construction Law of the People's Republic of China" came into force on September 1 this year, which is the first time that China has formulated a special law on the construction of a barrier-free environment. ”
In Zhang Hua's view, legal services for persons with disabilities are a manifestation of information accessibility.
Disabled people are relatively isolated, have a low level of education, and are unable to cope with legal problems comfortably, so in addition to the active intervention and help of various social organizations, the barrier-free environment also needs to be improved. Zhang Hua said that he has been to many procuratorates or courts, and he believes that more service personnel who know sign language should be set up in public places to make it more convenient for people with disabilities to do things. "To integrate people with disabilities into society, more people need to take the initiative to reach out, and the barrier-free environment of the whole society needs to be continuously improved. ”
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