Discriminatory health standards must be scrapped

LIN CHUANHUA, a disabled resident in Lianjiang county, East China's Fujian province, applied for a local public teaching position this year. He ranked the first in the exam, but was rejected by the local education bureau because of his disability. Beijing News comments:

The local education bureau of Lianjiang responded that their higher level agency, the provincial educational department of Fujian, has set health standards that every applicant must pass and Lin's disability failed to meet the standard.

What happened in Lianjiang is not an isolated incident. Two months ago, Xiao Guangting, a visually impaired resident who has lived in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong province, for almost 20 years, applied to register his hukou, household registration, in the city but was rejected because he could not pass the vision part of the health test. The Shenzhen hukou department also quoted its provincial health standards as an excuse.