Liu Guantang

Liu Guantang is awarded as a model for people with disabilities.[photo/china.org.cn]

Recommended by: Liaoning Disabled Persons’ Federation

Reason for recommendation: Although affected by polio as a child, Liu Haitang studied hard to qualify as a lawyer, and has helped people with disabilities to solve problems in their work, study, and lives.

Liu Guantang receives an award.[photo/china.org.cn]

Over the past 20 years, Liu has offered legal assistance to more than 5,000 people, helping his clients save more than 300,000 dollars and eliminating more than 20,000 dollars in agency fees.

Liu was received by President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang in 2014, when he was named an “outstanding person in helping the disabled”. Liu has also won several awards in Liaoning province for his charity work.

Liu Guantang works as a volunteer to help the disabled.[photo/china.org.cn]

Liu’s right leg was disabled due to polio when he was three years old. He spent eight years obtaining his lawyer’s qualification certificate and became the first disabled lawyer in Liaoning province.

Liu often helps other people with disabilities with their legal problems. A couple in a remote village came to Liu for help. They sought and obtained oral permission from the local government to cut down their own trees on a mountain, but, after they harvested the trees, a local court sentenced them to three years imprisonment.

Liu knew that it would be a tricky case, but he still defended them on the basis of concrete evidence.

Liu did not ask the couple for a penny, and spent 800 dollars of his own money on the case. In the end the court accepted Liu’s defense and declared the couple innocent.

In some people’s eyes, lawyers only work for money and not for justice. But for Liu, social responsibility is more important than making money.

Liu Guantang is the director of the legal assistance center for people with disabilities in Dandong, Liaoning province. He is committed to public benefit in that role, saying “I will continue my work to solve legal problems for the disabled.”