No sight, no sweat for Chongqing runners

'Festival' expansion

"Running is no big deal for a volunteer, but for the visually impaired, it is like a festival," Lu said. To join in, some runners from Chongqing's suburban districts and counties get up as early as 4 am and spend hours traveling for the runs.

Lu said that due to the current capacity and limited number of volunteers — who may not always be available for every run — he restricts the number of visually impaired runners in each session to 20. But with more volunteers joining, he is planning to expand the group and make the runs a weekly event in the future.

By 2020, approximately 85 million people in China were living with disabilities, the China Disabled Persons' Federation said.

According to the "China's Parasports: Progress and the Protection of Rights" white paper released by the State Council Information Office in March 2022, historic progress has been made in parasports since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012.

The report noted that participation rates in grassroots cultural and sports activities for the disabled in China have soared from 6.8 percent in 2015 to 23.9 percent in 2021.

Contact the writers at dengrui@chinadaily.com.cn