Role models with disabilities, their supporters share stories with Chinese and foreign reporters

As the 29th National Day for Helping the Disabled approaches, the Information Office of the State Council held a press conference with Chinese and foreign journalists.

Three role models of self-improvement and an outstanding representative in supporting the people with disabilities were invited to the conference to talk about self-improvement of the disabled and the traditional virtue of assisting them.

Role models with disabilities and their supporters meet the press. [photo/cdpf.org.cn]

"Everyone who contributes to society deserves respect." At the press conference, Liu Fang, a psychological tutor from No 3 Middle School of Baiyun district, Guiyang city, Guizhou province, brought two books she had written.

"A river rushing on the ground and a river flowing under the ground are equal when they face the sea," she wrote in one of them. Liu said that through this sentence, she wanted to express that the world is fair and open to everyone, including the disabled. “Everyone who contributes to society deserves respect," she said. Liu lost her sight due to retinitis pigmentosa in 1997 and could no longer engage in Chinese teaching. However, she did not lose heart in life. After some efforts, she became a psychological counselor in the school.

Since 2008, she has coached more than 20,000 students and more than 2,000 parents. Moreover, she has made over 400 lectures to the society, including government agencies, enterprises, schools, communities and small farmhouses.

Liu Fang speaks at the press conference. [photo/cdpf.org.cn]

While doing psychological counseling, she also started writing and sold her two novels at a charity sale. With the fund from the charity sale, she set up an education fund to help the disabled, which has already helped more than a dozen poor children complete their junior high school studies and helped two amputees to obtain artificial limbs. "It took me 10 years to walk from light to darkness, but it took me another 12 years to return to light." Liu said that in the face of difficulties, optimistic people are invincible.

Peng Chao, a senior student majoring in law at Sichuan University, shared his story.

In 2001, six-year-old Peng accidentally touched a high-voltage wire, resulting in amputation of both arms. The lifelong disability did not knocked him down. Instead, he insisted on practicing writing and eating with his feet, and redoubled his efforts in study. As a result, he was admitted to Sichuan University in the 2015 college entrance examination, and realized his dream.

Peng Chao, a senior student majoring in law at Sichuan University, speaks at the press conference. [photo/cdpf.org.cn]

Because of his love of reading poetry, in 2016, Peng registered for CCTV's Chinese Poetry Conference program, and became the champion of the program's first episode during Spring Festival in 2016. Some audience said that Peng's victory has special significance and will inspire others to move forward more firmly in life and study. "I don't regard myself as a disabled person. I can also do the things that other people do with their hands with my feet. I am no worse than others," Peng said, " I will pursue happiness with hard work!" "The whole society should know more about and pay attention to the disabled, so that helping the disabled will become a common practice." Ninety-four-year-old Cao Peng was the oldest to share his experience at the conference. He is a symphony conductor, the founder of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and initiator of the Shanghai Angel Salon. An able-bodied person, he has helped autistic patients for more than ten years.

Cao Peng, founder of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and initiator of the Shanghai Angel Salon, speaks at the press conference. [photo/cdpf.org.cn]

Cao's life is also one of struggle. He devoted his whole life to the popularization of symphonies and did not go through the retirement formalities until he was 75 years old. After that, he began to devote himself to public welfare undertakings. In 2005, he established a non-professional symphony orchestra, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, to serves public welfare. On June 1, 2008, he set up the Angel Salon to help autistic children through music, culture, skills and other courses. Cao has a lot to say about autism. He points out that although China has provided support for autistic people, there is to date no cure for autism in the world. He said that some autistic children who are afraid of crowds have been treated with music by the orchestra through sound, adding that those autistic children who have high musical talent should be paid attention to and cared for, so that they can get out of their predicament and learn to be independent. The Angel Salon has so far recruited 70 autistic children and staged more than 100 charity performances. Wang Lei, general-manager of Xi'an Hongying Film and Television Cultural Media Co Ltd and founder of a internet service platform for the disabled, echoed with Cao.

He is physically disabled and the father of an autistic child. Because of his disability when he was a child, Wang learned medical knowledge by himself, and started his own business as soon as he graduated from high school. After numerous failures, he finally set up a medical institution independently. Just when he had stabilized his career, he found his son was ill. He took his son around for rehabilitation treatment, hoping to find him a job through which he could support himself. His son gradually grew up to be a gifted animator, but no company wanted to employ him. So he founded a films & television and animation company in 2014. The investment failed at first, and the family's savings all went into it. But he did not give up. In 2017, with the help of the Shaanxi Disabled Persons' Federation and the Xi'an Disabled Persons' Federation, he finally set up an animation training school specially aimed at high-end employment of the disabled and insisted on its operation.

Wang Lei, general-manager of Xi'an Hongying Film and Television Cultural Media Co Ltd and founder of One Wing Angel Internet service platform for the disabled, speaks at the press conference. [photo/cdpf.org.cn]

Wang found that many people with disabilities, like his son, are fully qualified for animation production and performed no worse than able-bodied people. As a result, under the national preferential policies, Wang has established a team including disabled and able-bodied people, and has so far trained 126 students with disabilities, of whom more than 50 have been successfully employed.

"Equality and respect are more needed for the disabled who can earn their own living and are capable. This is the greatest help to the disabled," Wang said. He called on the whole society to understand and pay more attention to the disabled, so that helping them will become a common practice. He believes that more disabled people can obtain employment on an equal footing and realize their dreams.