Technology gives disabled new abilities

Using CP2Joy, Cheung can type three words in less than three minutes. Using the system has helped him overcome some of the bullying and discrimination he was previously subjected to due to his physical disability.

CP2Joy, plus day-and-night study of computer skills and programming techniques, have helped him earn a postgraduate degree in advanced information systems from Hong Kong Baptist University. "He doesn't even let himself take a day off," Cheung's father says.

Besides moonlighting as a programmer, he currently owns a company, providing tailor-made computer services for the disabled. He is also a columnist for a local newspaper. "The computer has changed my destiny. I hope technology can help more people with disabilities to receive education, integrate into society and improve their lives," Cheung wrote after learning there are some 200,000 people in Hong Kong who are like him and may need such aid.

Cheung launched CP2Joy in 2018 after 18 months of research. He set up a social enterprise a year later to commercialize the software. His company is the first in Hong Kong to customize the software and provide technical support for people with special needs, as well as for special schools and nongovernmental organizations for the disabled.

By August, more than 60 people with severe disabilities had tried out CP2Joy. Two special schools have purchased the system and three others have expressed interest in acquiring it.

According to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government, 534,200 people, or 7.1 percent of the local population, suffer from one or more types of disability, such as mental problems or difficulties in seeing or hearing.