Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, May 20th, title: Live in the sun and share youth——Written on the occasion of the 33rd National Day for Helping the Disabled
Xinhua News Agency reporters Gao Lei and Wang Mingyu
May 21 this year is the 33rd National Day for Helping the Disabled. The theme of this year’s National Helping the Disabled Day is “Improving the social security system and caring service system for the disabled and promoting the all-round development of the cause of the disabled”.
Over the years, the majority of disabled people have carried forward the spirit of self-esteem, self-confidence, self-improvement, and self-reliance, moved forward in the face of setbacks, forged ahead in adversity, and composed moving songs of life. On the occasion of the National Day of Helping the Disabled, let us listen to their stories and voices, live together in the sun and share youth.
Rehabilitation service: “repair” life, “repair” confidence
“I never dared to think that I would be able to run one day.” Li Mei, a 36-year-old villager in Gaopo Village, Shankou Town, Hepu County, Beihai City, Guangxi, suffered from polio at the age of 7, which caused her right lower limb to be disabled and her walking gait to be abnormal. Because of the poverty of the family, he has not received good treatment. After getting married, her husband worked part-time at a construction site, and Li Mei barely managed to get by with her two children at home, so she had long since given up her plans to see a doctor.
Not long ago, the staff of the Disabled Persons’ Federation in Hepu County, Beihai City found Li Mei and told her that they could operate on her and provide rehabilitation services. Today, Li Mei’s feet have been corrected and her leg muscles have improved. Doctors told her that after two months of rehab, she would be able to trot.
One person recovers, one happy family. Li Mei’s changes are the epitome of Beihai City’s increased efforts to implement rehabilitation service projects for disabled adults in recent years.
In this project, after being reimbursed by the basic medical insurance for urban and rural residents, serious illness insurance, etc., the self-paid part of the rehabilitation expenses of the disabled disabled can receive a subsidy of up to 6,000 yuan per person per year. Since its implementation in 2020, 261 disabled adults with disabilities have received rehabilitation assistance.
Rehabilitation is an urgent need for people with disabilities. In order to achieve the goal of “rehabilitation services for all” disabled persons, disabled persons’ federations at all levels focus on rural low-income disabled persons, and actively provide services such as rehabilitation medical care, functional training, and assistive device adaptation for disabled persons in need. In 2021, By 2022, 17.0746 million disabled people will receive basic rehabilitation services, and 3.418 million disabled people will receive assistive device fitting services. The coverage rate of basic rehabilitation services for disabled people will remain above 85%. In addition, from 2021 to 2022, 769,700 disabled children will receive rehabilitation assistance.
Employment and Entrepreneurship: Self-reliance and Self-improvement, Embracing Dreams
In front of the house, the path paved with blue bricks is clean and tidy, and the kiwi fruit racks are full of vitality; behind the house, chicken coops and rabbit cages are neatly arranged, and various fruits and vegetables grow well in the small vegetable field.
In the small courtyard of Zhang Benlu’s home in Xinhua Village, Jianchi Town, Hanyin County, Shaanxi Province, there are “spectacles” and “earnings”.
Zhang Benlu is a fourth-grade disabled person. His wife goes out to work and his son goes to school. He has no job and can only stay at home. He often feels very distressed. This year, with the help of the County Disabled Persons’ Federation, Zhang Benlu renovated his small courtyard, earning about 20,000 yuan a year.
“In the past, he didn’t want others to go to his house, but now he sees all his acquaintances enthusiastically pulling them home.” The words of the villagers revealed the big changes in Zhang Benlu’s childhood.
Not only Zhang Benlu, but in recent years, Hanyin County has helped more than 200 disabled families to develop garden farming, and the “square inch” of the courtyard has become a “cornucopia” for increasing income.
Building a stage for employment and entrepreneurship for the disabled is an important way to help them increase their income, integrate into society, and realize their life values and dreams.
In April 2022, the “Three-Year Action Plan for Promoting the Employment of Persons with Disabilities (2022-2024)” issued by the General Office of the State Council attracted widespread attention. The action plan requires that from 2022 to 2024, a total of 1 million people with disabilities will be employed in urban and rural areas across the country.
In the work of promoting the employment and entrepreneurship of disabled people, the number of disabled people in rural areas is large, the difficulties are serious, and the difficulty of assistance is difficult, which is the focus and difficulty in completing relevant goals. In 2023, 8 departments including the China Disabled Persons’ Federation, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the Ministry of Finance jointly issued a notice, proposing 7 ways to help rural disabled people increase their employment and income through production labor assistance and practical technical training assistance.
Today, in the centralized resettlement workshops for the disabled, the disabled use hard work and sweat to water the flowers of struggle; in the proportional employment enterprises, the disabled and the able-bodied work together to help each other and bravely pursue their dreams; on various innovation and entrepreneurship platforms, Many university graduates with disabilities have worked bravely in energy conservation and environmental protection, high-tech and other industries, helping industrial transformation and upgrading…
By the end of 2022, the number of employed persons with certificates in urban and rural areas across the country has reached 9.055 million. In 2022 alone, 592,000 new urban and rural disabled persons will be employed, completing more than half of the goal of the three-year action plan.
Mastering job skills is the premise and foundation for high-quality employment. In recent years, various places have actively held training activities for the disabled. By 2022, 502,000 disabled people will have received vocational skills training, and they will “add weight” to a happy life with a skill.
Barrier-free Construction: Eliminate Barriers and Integrate Development
In the early morning, birds chirped outside the window. Ni Rongbao, a disabled person who lives in Xiyang Village, Nanxun District, Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province, got up from the nursing bed, pushed a long stool, walked to the back seat and sat down slowly, basking in the sun as usual, waiting for old neighbors to come and chat .
“Wheelchairs, nursing beds, and back seats are all distributed by the District Disabled Persons’ Federation.” Ni Rongbao said that the Disabled Persons’ Federation also helped the family renovate the wiring. Lights can be turned on and off by reaching out.”
There is no “obstruction” in the environment, and there is love in life. In recent years, local disabled persons’ federations have promoted the barrier-free renovation of families with severe disabilities. As of March 31, 2023, 680,500 households have been renovated across the country.
To make homes a warm haven for the disabled, it is even more important to fully consider the needs of the disabled in the construction and renovation of public facilities.
Surrounded by rows of bookshelves, there are tables, chairs and computers in the middle… This reading room of more than 300 square meters looks ordinary, but it is full of details: the books on the bookshelves are bigger and thicker, and there is a circle of books on the aisle. For the blind, each table has a recess in the corner to place a blind stick.
This is a reading room specially set up by the Zhejiang Library for the visually impaired. In Zhejiang, more than 50 libraries have set up such reading rooms to ensure barrier-free reading for the visually impaired.
The construction of a barrier-free environment is a symbol of national and social civilization.
Low-floor barrier-free buses allow disabled people to travel without worry; subway cars equipped with barrier-free boarding boards open their arms to disabled people; 648 websites and apps have completed barrier-free and aging-friendly renovations, and surfing the Internet for disabled people is even easier. Convenience… The trend of helping the disabled is getting stronger everywhere, and the concept of barrier-free is becoming more and more popular.
At present, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress is studying and formulating the Barrier-Free Environment Construction Law. This is the first special law formulated by my country on the barrier-free environment construction.
“The cause of the disabled is entering the fast lane of development.” Zheng Gongcheng, dean of the Research Institute for the Development of the Disabled at Renmin University of China, made a statement at the press conference of the “Blue Book on the Cause of the Disabled: Research Report on the Cause of the Disabled in China (2023)” held recently. Such a judgment.
Facing the warm sun of the new journey, 85 million disabled people will surely write a more brilliant chapter in life with the care and love of the whole society.