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Team aims for barrier-free environment

By Li Hongyang | China Daily | Updated: 2022-05-10 08:41

Du Peng checks accessible facilities at a bank in Beijing. WANG JING/CHINA DAILY

Evaluation services

Since 2020, the Beijing government and the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games have employed Du and Tang's team to test accessible facilities and provide assessments and supervision plans.

The team's supervisors travel to hotels, venues and transportation stations to check if existing accessible facilities comply with government regulations. If that isn't the case, they write a report and offer suggestions for revision.

The team hires about 30 people with disabilities to do the work, and in addition to the government, construction companies are keen to use their services.

Tang said the work has not been recognized as a job by human resources departments, but it should be.

"People with disabilities should take part in the work to design and review facilities they will need to use. We have a better understanding of such facilities than nondisabled people. We want to live life with dignity through our own efforts," she said.

Du said he hopes the social environment will become more friendly and accessible for people with disabilities. He recalled how in 2019, he posted a short video online that showed a colleague vainly attempting to obtain train tickets from a machine that was too high for him to reach from his wheelchair.

However, rather than empathize, many commentators stated that people with disabilities shouldn't leave home without a nondisabled companion to help them.

"There is a long way to go to make people realize that we need to go out, but we can only go out if accessible facilities are abundant, meet standards and are not used for other purposes," Du said.

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