A VISUALLY impaired masseur named Xiao Guangting filed a lawsuit against two government departments after he was denied a Shenzhen hukou “because of his physical condition.”

    Xiao filed the lawsuit against the city’s human resources and social security administration and the municipal health, population and family planning commission Dec. 29 last year.

    Xiao said he believes the two government departments refused his application for a hukou, or household registration, in Shenzhen, because he is visually impaired, according to yesterday’s Chinese-language media reports.

    He asked the Futian District People’s Court to ignore a government-designated hospital’s evaluation of his physical condition. The Futian court has accepted the case but has not yet heard the case.

    Xiao came to Shenzhen and decided to become a masseur in 1998, a common profession in China for the visually impaired. Xiao became a certified masseur in 2001 and believed he was qualified for a Shenzhen hukou.

    In order to make his child eligible for public school in Shenzhen, he applied for a hukou in late September 2012, but was rejected based on his physical condition, Xiao said.

    After the first failure, Xiao and another blind person reported their situation to local lawmakers and the media. The human resource administration responded that there were certain standards for the city to recognize him as a skilled worker.

    Xiao applied for household registration again in November 2015. However, the Luohu People’s Hospital told him that he did not pass the physical examination. Xiao submitted his application Nov. 27 and was rejected for the same reason as the first application.

    Xiao approached several departments as well as local lawmakers and the media, but failed to draw attention.

    He decided to take the two departments to court Dec. 29.

    Xiao said after living in Shenzhen for many years, he is happy with his life here.

    Xiao’s lawyer, Li Guoguang believes that “physical disabilities” and “unhealthiness” are two different things.

    (Zhang Qian, Li Jiaxin)