The Beijing Disabled Persons’ Federation focuses on the construction of the Beijing International Science and Technology Innovation Center, implements the work requirements of the China Disabled Persons’ Federation, creates an exhibition area for the achievements of science and technology to help the disabled and promotes the deep integration of science and technology with the cause of the disabled.
The exhibition area is divided into five areas: the unobstructed area, the listening area, the unobstructed viewing area, the unobstructed heart area, and the imagination area, and the whole exhibition hall pays special attention to the construction of a barrier-free environment.
In terms of information accessibility, all exhibit labels are available in Chinese, English and Braille, and visitors can scan the QR code on the exhibit labels to learn about product specific information through voice reading and sign language videos. In terms of hardware facilities, the exhibition hall has laid a new indoor blind road prompt guide line, and has a low-level booth, leaving a wheelchair knee space or foot space under the booth.
At the 4th Asian Para Games held in Hangzhou, the ignition ceremony of the last torchbearer was completed with the assistance of their intelligent bionic hands. It is an intelligent product with a high degree of integration of brain-computer interface technology and artificial intelligence algorithms.
By detecting the wearer’s neural and muscle electrical signals, it can identify its movement intention, and transform it into the action of an intelligent bionic hand. It can realize the independent movement of 5 fingers and the collaborative operation between fingers, which can meet the common gestures required by people with upper limb disabilities in daily life.
Beijing Disability Service Demonstration Center (Huiai Building) is a demonstration service position with the highest degree of specialization and comprehensiveness for the disabled at the provincial level in China, with an area of 33,200 square meters and a total of 24 floors, which was put into operation in December 2021 and is the window unit for the reception and display of the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympics.
The functional orientation of the center is “one position, three centers and one board”, which is not only a comprehensive service position for the disabled, but also a professional service demonstration center for the disabled, an incubation center for disability service projects, a training center for professionals with disabilities services, and a barrier-free demonstration model for national comprehensive service facilities.
The demonstration center provides more than 10 professional demonstration services such as vocational rehabilitation, short-term care, child rehabilitation, adult rehabilitation, employment training, art rehabilitation, integrated movie viewing, exhibition and exchange, etc., for disabled people of all ages in the city, and has served more than 160,000 disabled people in the past three years.
In addition to the paving of blind roads, an indoor navigation information system for the blind has been installed, which can provide voice navigation services for the visually impaired through easy operation of mobile phones.
There are 7 service functional areas in the whole building, the first and second floors are employment training areas, the third floor is the training activity area, the fourth floor is the children’s rehabilitation area, the fifth floor is the art rehabilitation area, the sixth and seventh floors are the vocational rehabilitation area, the eighth floor is the adult rehabilitation area, and the ninth to eighteenth floors are the short-term care area.
For all services in the building, people with disabilities can complete the application process through the “Huiai Service” online information platform, which realizes the online connection of service needs and service supply for people with disabilities.
The central operation and management mechanism
The center adheres to the direction of public welfare services, introduces service institutions for the disabled through public bidding, carries out professional demonstration services for the disabled, and establishes an exit mechanism. What is more, the center will give preferential rent to the settled institutions, and the disabled service recipients can enjoy preferential policies such as vocational rehabilitation subsidies, child rehabilitation subsidies, rehabilitation service subsidies, and individual care subsidies. The center empowers institutions by linking high-quality social resources and building a platform.
Public welfare services gather strength
The demonstration center has brought together 12 volunteer service teams for the disabled, with 430 volunteers and more than 16,000 people serving the disabled. The “Dancing Love” Volunteer Service Project for the Disabled won the Gold Award in the 7th China Youth Volunteer Service Project Competition. It is striving to build a professional and exemplary Huiai volunteer service team for the disabled, and promote and spread the spirit of volunteer service for the disabled.
International exchanges
With the strong support of China Disabled Persons’ Federation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other units, the unit has hosted the “Belt and Road” Disability Affairs Theme Forum, the UNICEF “Disability Integration” Youth Photo Exhibition, and the International Centennial Celebration of Rehabilitation, 71 foreign journalists from 58 countries visited the exhibition and were invited to participate in the “Asian Culture Festival” in Geneva.
The Beijing 2022 Beijing Paralympic Winter Exhibition Area is divided into six parts, the first is the introduction of Winter Paralympic events and teams, the second is the display of Winter Paralympic honors, the third is the display of Winter Olympic derivatives, the fourth is the reproduction of the opening and closing ceremonies of the Winter Paralympics, the fifth is the display of the wonderful moments of winning the championship, and the sixth is the sportswear display and interactive area.
Beijing has set up six sports teams, including alpine skiing team, biathlon team, cross-country skiing team, snowboarding team, Paralympic ice hockey team, and wheelchair curling team, achieving full coverage of the six major events of the Winter Paralympics.
In this Winter Paralympics, Beijing won a total of 5 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze medals, achieving a historic breakthrough with the largest number of participants, the most complete projects and the best results. In particular, it is worth mentioning that the two national teams undertaken by Beijing have performed outstandingly: the wheelchair curling team successfully defended its title, and the alpine skiing project achieved a qualitative leap, winning 3 golds, 9 silvers and 7 bronzes, and all the participating groups raised the national flag.
Huiai Love Kitchen mainly provides public welfare baking training and employment experience to disabled friends, students of special education schools and disabled people with vocational training needs in the Huiai Building, and then recommends them to enterprises and institutions to achieve integrated employment.
The Huiai Beauty Workshop” exhibition area is divided into three parts. The first part is “Beijing Charm Ingenuity”, which focuses on the exquisite handicrafts such as cloisonné enamel paintings, Cao’s kites, Jingxi shadow puppetry, silk paper-cutting, silk embroidery, paper painting, wheat straw painting, etc., which are created by the disabled people in various districts of Beijing, and profoundly interpret the connotation of Beijing culture.
The second part is “Exchange and Mutual Learning”, which brings together high-quality handicrafts for the disabled in Beijing that have appeared in major international events and exhibitions such as the “Asian Cultural Festival” in Geneva and the China International Fair for Trade in Services, conveying the power and warmth of Chinese culture to the international community and showing the demeanor of Chinese disabled people.
The third part is “Benefiting Enterprises and Caring for Love”, which creates a harmonious and inclusive social atmosphere through interaction with the disabled and handicrafts making experience activities. This area focuses on the handicraft catalogue and finished products that can be produced by various caring units, such as flannel rabbits, flower coasters, osmanthus brooches, etc.
Since 2015, with the support of the Beijing Disabled Persons’ Federation, more than 600 disabled people have participated in life reconstruction training, and after one month of training, 95% of them have finally achieved self-care.
At present, the China Disabled Persons’ Federation has also promoted the “Beijing model” of self-help and mutual aid to the whole country. More than 300 key disabled people in 30 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities across the country have been trained, and more than 8,000 people with disabilities have been served by them.
The Children’s Rehabilitation Zone, which has introduced two professional children’s rehabilitation institutions, provides systematic and professional rehabilitation services for children with disabilities such as autism, intellectual disability and cerebral palsy.
Founded in 2010, with the concept of whole-person development, “Our Home” provides full-life services from the “cradle” to the “rocking chair” for disabled friends, and has provided rehabilitation services for more than 4,000 children, supported more than 200 children to implement integrated education, and supported more than 100 disabled young people to enter the society to achieve integrated employment.
BY ADDISALEM MULAT
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD WEDNESDAY 11 JUNE 2025
