On September 22, 2011, AAPD was pleased to host a meeting with a delegation of representatives from the Disabled Persons’ Federation from Guangxi, China. Attending the meeting for AAPD were Lara Schwartz, V.P. of External Affairs, Jenifer Simpson, Senior Director for Government Affairs and Frankie Mastrangelo, New Media Manager. Guangxi province in China is on the southern border, alongside Vietnam, and is known for its mountains and plains and for its ethnic diversity, including 14 million Zhuang people.
The Chinese visitors from this provincial federation included Mr. Li Ruixiang, Vice Director-General and Ms. Huang Meiliang, Vice Researcher in the Personnel Department. They were accompanied by city and countryside representatives: Ms. Li Yonghua, Director-General of the Nanning Disabled Persons’ Federation; Mr. Liang Feng, Director-General of the Wuzhou Disabled Persons’ Federation; Mr. Nong Youming, Director-General of the Baise Disabled Persons’ Federation and Mr. Wang Zigui, Vice Director- General of the Guilin Disabled Persons’ Federation. Nanning, Baise and Guilin are major cities within the province.
The Guangxi group was very interested in the structure and operations of AAPD as a private, non-profit organization that both advocates for the civil rights of people with disabilities and for the programs needed by people with disabilities. They were also interested in some of the AAPD leadership development programs, such as the Hearne Awards program, Disability Mentoring Day and our Hill and Federal internship programs.
Li Ruiziang explained that there are about 3 million people with disabilities served by his federation in the province. He said that there are about 20,000 staff involved, including volunteers. He said about 20% of the organization’s staff are people with disabilities. The main programs of the federation include prevention of blindness, community eye health service and capacity building in local communities.
>>>For More on Guangxi go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guangxi
>>>For More on Guangxi Disabled Persons’ Federation go to http://bit.ly/q1xlmf
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