Library helps blind improve their lives

Peng Yuying, 77, has been going to a library reading room for the blind in Lanzhou, Gansu province, every week for more than eight years. Recently, the library started enhancing its services for patrons.

"I love being here. I feel very full and complete," said Peng, a native of Lanzhou."It makes me happy to come to the library everyday to meet with friends."

To protect the reading rights of the disabled, provide self-improvement and fulfill their spiritual and cultural needs, the Disabled People's Federation in Gansu set up a reading room for the blind in the Gansu Provincial Library with the help of the Sunshine Project.

After the reading room was created, the library collected information about blind residents, contacted blind readers, registered their home addresses and invited them to participate in activities. It also set up a system of free book delivery.

In the reading room, patrons hunch over pages of Braille, passing sensitive fingertips over the raised bumps that stand for words and phrases. The pages rustle softly as they are turned.