An Oral History of the Special Olympics in China Volume 3: Finding and Keeping a Job

497 Pages·2020·4.47 MB·English

by  William P. Alford, Mei Liao, Fengming Cui

Economy and Social Inclusion
Creating a Society for All
William P. Alford
Mei Liao
Fengming Cui   Editors
An Oral History
of the Special
Olympics in
China Volume 3
Finding and Keeping a Job
Economy and Social Inclusion
Creating a Society for All
Series Editor
Akihiko Matsui, Tokyo, Japan
Thisseriesprovidesaforumfortheoretical,empirical, historical, andexperimental
analysis of issues related to economy and social inclusion and exclusion. Included
are the interconnected problems of alienation, deprivation, discrimination,
economic inequality, polarization, and prejudices caused by or related to abusive
behavior, aging, depopulation, disability, the educational gap, the gender gap,
naturaldisaster, poverty,rarediseases,war,andvariousother economicandsocial
factors.
The common theme of the series is to examine how we can create an inclusive
societythataccommodatesasmanypeopleaspossibleandpromotestheirwelfare.
Webelievethisshouldbethemaingoalofeconomicsasadiscipline.Societyneed
not passively observe its inequality, social exclusion, and decline. Policy,
institutions, and our actions matter. The series aims to enrich academic discourse,
influence economic and social policy, and enlighten a global readership.
Methodologies adopted in this series are mainly economic theory, game theory,
econometrics, statistical analysis, economic experiments, and disability studies.
Psychology, sociology, legal studies, and medical sciences, among other disci-
plines, are also considered important related fields of study.
The interdisciplinary research taken up in the series utilizes these existing
methodologies for the common goal of creating a society for all. Furthermore,
progress in such interdisciplinary studies will contribute new insights to the
development of economic studies. The major geographical targets of the series are
Japan and other Asian countries but are not restricted to those areas. At the same
time, however, the goal is to amplify the findings therein to universally applicable
insights and knowledge.
Editorial Board:
William P. Alford (Vice Dean for the Graduate Program and International Legal
Studies, Jerome A. and Joan L. Cohen Professor of East Asian Legal Studies,
Harvard Law School)
In-Koo Cho (Professor, University of Illinois, USA)
Partha Sarathi Dasgupta (Frank Ramsey Professor Emeritus of Economics at the
University of Cambridge, UK)
Hidehiko Ichimura (Professor, The University of Tokyo, Japan)
Daiji Kawaguchi (Professor, The University of Tokyo, Japan)
Osamu Nagase (Visiting Professor, Ritsumeikan Univesity, Japan)
Yasuyuki Sawada (Chief Economist, Asian Development Bank, Philippines;
Professor, The University of Tokyo, Japan)
Tomomi Tanaka (Senior Economist, The World Bank)
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/13899
William P. Alford Mei Liao Fengming Cui
(cid:129) (cid:129)
Editors
An Oral History
of the Special Olympics
in China Volume 3
Finding and Keeping a Job
Editors
William P. Alford Mei Liao
Harvard LawSchool Shanghai, China
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA, USA
FengmingCui
Harvard LawSchool
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA, USA
ISSN 2509-4270 ISSN 2509-4289 (electronic)
Economy andSocial Inclusion
ISBN978-981-15-5004-1 ISBN978-981-15-5005-8 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-5005-8
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The publication of this book is sponsored by
Papa John’s Shanghai.
Thisbookand thepreceding volume,AnOral
History of the Special Olympics in China Vol
2—The Movement, together with the
summary volume, An Oral History of the
Special Olympics in China Vol 1—Overview,
commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the
Special Olympics 1968–2018. The three
volumes are Open Access books.
To the people and organizations dedicated to
promotingthedignityandthesocialinclusion
of persons with intellectual disabilities and a
better world for all
Preface
I.
This volume is a collection of interviews with the families of 16 employees with
intellectual disability (ID) employed at Shanghai Papa John’s restaurants.
ShanghaiPapaJohn’sisacompanythatisveryfriendlytowardspeoplewithID
andcommittedtoitssocialresponsibilities.FollowingtheSpecialOlympicsWorld
Summer Games held in Shanghai in 2007, it started hiring employees with ID.
Since 2012, Papa John’s and Dairy Queen have been the co-sponsors of Special
OlympicsEast Asia andhaveorganized43unifiedsoccer games andboccegames
in23citiesinChina.AsaresultofourgoodcommunicationwithPapaJohn’s,we
chosetointerviewitsemployeeswithIDfortheFindingandKeepingaJobvolume
and have received its full support and assistance.
In June 2016 at the beginning of the interview process for this volume, there
wereatotalof87employeeswithdisabilitiesatShanghaiPapaJohn’s,80ofwhom
have intellectual disabilities while the rest have hearing and other disabilities.
Initially,wehopedthatthecompanywouldhelprecruitoralhistoryfamilies,but
it didn’t turn out to be effective. The company then decided to hold a meeting for
the parents of all their employees with ID, through which we could introduce the
project ourselves and recruit families for the project.
Becausetheparentshaddifferentschedules,betweenJuneandAugust2016,we
heldfourmeetingsattendedby41parentsintotal.Twentyparentssignedontothe
oral history project at the meetings. Among these 20 parents, 1 withdrew after
talking to family members; 1 withdrew after the initial interview; and we had to
cancel the interview with a third because the employee had hearing impairment
insteadofintellectualdisability.Intheend,atotalof17familieswereinterviewed,
with some entries appearing in either the lead volume or the volume focused
specifically on Special Olympics athletes. As a result, this volume contains inter-
views with 13 families.
ix
x Preface
As far as the recruitment process is concerned, nearly 47% of the families of
employees with ID voluntarily attended the meetings, and around 49% offamilies
thatattendedthemeetingsvoluntarilysignedontotheoralhistoryproject.Inother
words, the 17 families chose to participate voluntarily and naturally rather than
having been selected by the projectteam—support for which we are very grateful.
Families have opted out of the oral history project for the following reasons:
someparentsweresinglemomsandtoobusywithworktoacceptinterviews;some
were advanced in age with poor health and reluctant to talk about a painful past;
some cared about privacy; some did not relate to the project; and some refused to
participateintheprojectbecause theyfeltthatitwasusingpeople withdisabilities
as guinea pigs.
II.
Oral history aims to present a truthful and comprehensive picture of reality. Both
sunshine and storms are a part of reality. Oral history should both motivate and
disclose problems, which is the best way to drive social progress.
Shanghai Papa John’sstated that the companyhad taken thefirst step by hiring
people with disabilities and that it had faced challenges while gaining experience.
The company is ready to take the next step by sharing with society its experience
and challenges. Just as Internet companies do not yet know where big data can be
usedinthefuture,PapaJohn’sisn’tsureaboutwhateffectsitsexperiencecanhave.
However, once shared, this experience can definitely inspire companies, organi-
zations, experts, scholars, and other interested groups.
For companies, hiring employees with ID can help build the corporate culture,
establish values focusing on people, and strengthen the company’s sense of unity
andsocialresponsibility.Also,toshowsupportforpeoplewithID,somecustomers
make special efforts to dine at the restaurants.
On the other hand, hiring people with ID can be challenging for companies.
First, the company’s management costs will rise. The company needs to regularly
updateparentsontheperformanceofemployeeswith ID.Especiallyinthecaseof
new hires, in order to avoid misunderstanding stemming from the employees’
inability to express themselves clearly, the company needs to maintain communi-
cation with parents through contact books similar to those used by schools to
communicatewithparents;andiftheemployeesexperienceunstableemotions,the
company isliable for emergenciesand repercussions, aswellas risks tocustomers
and other employees. Second, service quality will be more or less impacted. For
example, employees with ID normally work at fixed stations in the kitchen and
cannot help out in the dining area during peak hours. It is, however, incompre-
hensible to some customers who will then complain on the rating sites, “The
employees were just hobnobbing in the kitchen and no one of them came out to
servethecustomers!”Third,theincreasinglyIT-dependentsociety,inotherwords,
Preface xi
theestablishmentofadigitalizedsociety,willleadtoconflictbetweenthecompany
and its employees with disabilities. For example, most companies have replaced
paper pay slips with texts from banks or intranet inquiries, but employees with ID
and their aging parents are sometimes unfamiliar with such new technologies and
will consequently become distrustful of the company.
For people with ID, having a formal job helps their inclusion in society and
participation in regular social life. And the five kinds of social insurance and one
housing fund that come with the job can provide some protection for their future.
However, despite working at friendly companies like Shanghai Papa John’s, some
of the wishes of people with ID and their parents still cannot be fulfilled. For
example, since the company offers equal pay for equal work, a lot of employees
with ID make less than regular employees because they might be less capable at
work;someemployeeswithIDarephysicallyweakerandfeeloverwhelmedwhen
working 8-hour shifts with regular employees; and some employees with ID are
slow-paced,andtherefore,unfitforthefastfoodindustry.Ifmorecompaniescould
hire employees with ID, people with ID would be able to find jobs that they are
better equipped for.
The challenges Papa John’s and its employees with ID have faced are surely
commonissuesforallofthecompanieshiringemployeeswithID.Andtheseissues
cannot be resolved without joint efforts from the companies, the government,
society,andfamiliesofpeoplewithID.Forexample,enterprisesemployingpeople
with disabilities urgently need professional support from social workers in psy-
chological consultation and interpersonal communication. At present, however,
socialworkersinChinamainlyusecommunitycommitteesandwelfareenterprises
as their work platforms. Therefore, hopefully the government and society can
broadenthesocialworkers’servicescopeassoonaspossible.Thereareotherissues
that may not be resolved at all until human beings have reached the next stage of
civilizationandeconomy.Forexample,equalpayforequalworkmeansthatpeople
with ID are no longer used as cheap labor, which is an indication of social
advancement. However, when the same criteria are applied to both people without
ID and people with ID, does it signify equality for people with ID?
Interviewers for this volume were conducted by undergraduate and graduate
students from Fudan University and East China Normal University. The youngest
was a 19-year-old sophomore but the majority of the rest were in their early
twenties. Even though they lacked social experience and were younger than the
interviewees,theypreparedthemselveswellanddidagreatjobofputtingtogether
theinterviews.Theywereallinspiredbytheinterviewsandlearnedalot,whichhas
validated another key function of oral history, namely, education.
Shanghai, China Mei Liao
Translated by Cissy Zhao
Edited by Andy Boreham and Zijian Chen