Let us talk about invisible children and those who are deliberately left out: campaigning for children with special needs in China

Abstract

This article criticises a marked research tendency to exclude the voices of children with special needs in China. Finding the predominant positivist tradition and ableist assumptions disconcerting, I aim to defend and campaign for Chinese children’s basic rights to be (mindfully) included in the research process. In particular, this article directs public and research attention to those Chinese children with less recognisable learning disabilities, who have been deliberately left out in the current discourses and policies with their needs remaining invisible in schools and society. In proposing a new research agenda for children with special needs in China, this article urges for an explicit research commitment to improving their lives and highlights promising directions and approaches for future research.