Broadcaster a voice for the blind
"I was moved, as there was no barrier between us. It's a sweet memory," she says.
The training only lasted 10 days - long enough to let her master the method to study on her own.
In June 2007, she passed the National Mandarin Proficiency Test (an oral test of Mandarin) with a high score. Later, she became the broadcaster and editor of Xinmu Cinema, which was broadcast on China National Radio. It came from one of Hongdandan's projects with the same name. The NGO plays free movies for the visually challenged each Saturday, with volunteers explaining the visuals of the films.
She first got media attention in 2010, when she stood out among tens of thousands of candidates in the "Xia Qing Cup" contest.
The contest's secretary general of the organizing committee, Wang Jing, told CCTV that Dong won the judges' recognition with her own ability.
Wang, together with other judges eager to help Dong, recommended her for a broadcasting training scholarship at the Communication University of China.
In April 2011, she tried to join the Higher Education Self-Taught Examination and get a certificate, but failed as there was no precedent like herself. Her application was refused several times.
Zheng Xiaojie, secretary general of Hongdandan, contacted the Beijing Education Examinations Authority and Beijing Municipal Commission of Education, to fight for Dong's rights. The incident attracted much attention after reports in the media, and many people volunteered to help her.
"There was no reason to refuse me. I didn't know when I would succeed, but I kept striving for it," she says.
Several months later, officials from the Beijing Education Examinations Authority decided to allow her, and all visually challenged people, to join the exam in Beijing.
She took the written exam in a separate room, with a computer installed with screen-reading software. For the oral test, she had extra time to type the exam paper into Braille and then answer the questions.
Thanks to Hongdandan volunteers who read out all the textbooks and recorded them, she passed the exam. Now they're recording textbooks of other majors, to help those in need.
"Lina is very hard working. Her success gives me hope, so that I have confidence to persist in helping the visually impaired," says Zheng, whose husband Wang Weili often teaches Dong. For example, he tells her to practice in life, which means to talk to others in her broadcasting voice.
"My current job is very meaningful," says Dong. "I like to use the language art to affect others, so that more people will know about the visually impaired."
Related: Seeing by ear
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