Offering disabled people meaningful employment

A pair of disabled entrepreneurs in Southwest China's Guizhou province are offering hope and employment to others who share their predicament. Ma Zhiguo, 52, lost four fingers on his right hand at age 19 while operating a machine that made coal briquettes.

He met 39-year-old Shi Kunjie, who lost his eyesight at age 11, at a conference for disabled people in 2012. "I used to make a living by selling vegetables and tofu at the market after I lost my fingers. It was very hard," Ma said.

Inspired by an advertisement he saw on television, Ma asked Shi, who was employed as a blind massage therapist at the time, to be his partner in setting up a commercial laundry and pot washing business.