3 December 2023 marks the 32nd International Day of Persons with Disabilities. The festival aims to promote understanding of disability issues and to encourage society and the public to uphold the dignity and rights and well-being of persons with disabilities.
According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, the total number of people with disabilities in China was 8,591 at the end of 202240,000 people, accounting for 6 percent of the total population16%。Among them, there is such a group of visually impaired children, they are born or acquired for some reasons, can not see the whole world, in the eyes of ordinary people can not be simpler to read books and periodicals, for these visually impaired children is a luxury.
Hitomi Love|I can see that e!
While we enjoy the colorful colors that the world has to offer, some children have a hard time seeing the world clearly. In their eyes, the mountains in the distance are imaginary, the trees in front of the door are connected, and even the mother's face is blurred.
Lele from Jilin, who was supposed to have a carefree childhood, was diagnosed with craniopharyngioma at an age when he was not familiar with the world. finally completed the operation and saved his life, but Lele's eyes couldn't see clearly. The optic nerve atrophy in both eyes reduced Lele's right eye vision to 003, the left eye only has a sense of light.
After many unsuccessful medical treatments, Lele turned to the China Children's Charity Relief Association (hereinafter referred to as the China Children's Charity Association) Tongai Relief Project. After a strict review and confirmation that Lele met the rescue conditions of the project team, we contacted Aixin Hospital for him. After nearly two months**, Lele's right eye vision has improved to 006, although only 003 changes, but it raised Lele's vision standard from "blind" to "low vision", bringing hope for the family to be reborn.
As of November 2023, the project team has carried out free medical screening in 30 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions across the country, benefiting more than 6.77 million children and adolescents, more than 1070,000 children received free glasses, nearly 10,000 children with eye diseases received timely assistance, and nearly 9,000 table lamps were donated to mountain villages.
Happy little Taozi|Make touch books for visually impaired children
I am Wang Jiayu, a gold medal reading promoter, and in the winter of 2020, I went to tell stories to children as usual. This time, I drove 40 kilometers to the "Bethel" Visually Impaired Help Center in Fangshan, Beijing. According to the teachers here, visually impaired children can learn life skills such as using a cane and climbing stairs Xi before they enter first grade. My task for the day was to tell stories to the children.
I brought a picture book, and I also brought the plants in the picture book story, hoping that the children would have an intuitive touch during the storytelling process.
At the climax of the story, the little duck and the little squirrel had an argument, and the book was taken away by the little sister next to him! Two little hands groped back and forth on the flat printed picture book, trying to find the appearance of the duckling and the little squirrel messing up the room because of an argument. In addition, the other children also heard the sound of the book being dragged on the table, and they all left their seats to touch the picture, and the four children and 8 little hands groped back and forth on the picture book, looking for even a little bulge...
I was very sad to see their desire for the picture, but there was nothing I could do, the storytelling process was interrupted, and I didn't know how to help them better understand the story. I regretted it so much that I thought I should have brought a stuffed animal, I should have brought something from the screen. But will stuffed animals solve this problem? What books can visually impaired children read during the children's reading stage? Are there any children's books on the market that are aimed at this group?
The answer is no! In the communication with the "Bethel" teacher, I learned that the special education teacher and caring people will make a kind of "cognitive book" that can touch the picture, and the picture can touch the "lion", "tiger", "car" and other patterns, some of which can also be interactive, but it is more suitable for young children, and there is no storybook for slightly older children to read.
It shocked me to know who doesn't have hundreds of children's books on their shelves right now? However, there are very few picture books that can be read by visually impaired children! When I returned to the office, I shared my feelings with my partners, and everyone was very sad as I was. We decided to take action and do something about it.
As a result, we launched the "Making Touch Books for Visually Impaired Children" public welfare project, with the goal of enabling them to understand the pictures through touch while reading. He also obtained the authorization of "Caterpillar Children's Book" and produced the first touch book "Thirty-six Words".
It was only when I took action that I realized that making a storybook that could be read by touch was very complicated, with a total of 26 pages of books and a total of 469 materials, some of which could only be made by hand because they were not available on the market, and each book took an average of 100 hours. In order to make reading accessible to more visually impaired children, we recruited more than 1,700 volunteers to assist in the production in the past two years, with a total of 6,814 hours of volunteer time. The touch books have served visually impaired children in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Sichuan, Henan, Inner Mongolia, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Zhengzhou, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Anhui and other places.
We got a lot of feedback from visually impaired children and parents – "special surprise", "fun", "fun", "never read a book with pictures", "surprised".
We were very touched by the simple and simple language from the children. A mother of a 3-year-old visually impaired child said, "I used to make children's books like this for my children, but it was too complicated!" I have to take care of my children and my family, and I really don't have time, but thanks to your help, my children can read on their own when they don't know Braille. ”
Hearing these feedbacks, we are not only moved, but also feel that this is a responsibility, and hope that more volunteers will join in to let the visually impaired children enjoy the fun of independent reading.
Xiaoci's family makes touch books for visually impaired children.
In 2015, Beijing Happy Little Taozi Social Work Service Center and China Children's Charity Association jointly established the "Happy Little Taozi" project.
Red Dandan|From light to darkness My life started anew
On this day, the wind was light and the day was warm, and the girl stood under the peach blossom tree, smiling and looking ahead.
This is the yang yang on the **, if you don't look closely, it's hard to find the difference between her: her eyes are focused in the direction of the lens.
Yang Yang is 18 years old. Since the age of 9, her life has been shut down for nearly six years due to illness, and her eyesight has plummeted, and she is getting farther and farther away from the clear world...
To re-understand books is also to re-understand life
At the age of 15, Yang Yang returned to school after recuperating at home for nearly six years. This time, she no longer entered the primary school she was familiar with before, but the special education school in Jining City, Shandong Province, and started her second "first grade" as a visually impaired person.
From ordinary primary school to special education school, Yangyang has no sense of gap in his heart at all: "I haven't been to school for too long, and I couldn't wait." ”
When she re-entered the first grade, her first priority was to learn Xi Braille and tactile reading. Yangyang herself has a strong drive for these projects: during her illness, she saw the Chinese version of "If You Give Me Three Days of Light" on the bookcase of her cousin's house, and heard the story of Helen Keller, when her eyesight was no longer enough for her to distinguish the dense small print.
The first time I read "If You Give Me Three Days of Light" was after Yang Yang had just finished learning Braille. She couldn't wait to go to the school library and borrow the Braille edition, the first book she had read in its entirety since her illness.
Full of anticipation, Yang Yang finished reading this book in his heart, but his heart was full of puzzlement: "Helen Keller's fate is already so tragic, why do you still want to live?" What sustains her life? ”
The second time I read this book, it was in a live class of Hongdandan's "Reading Assistance Program for Blind Children". The teacher's analysis of Helen Keller gave Yang Yang a new understanding of life: "People in the world are different, no matter what kind of person you are, you can live your own brilliance." ”
After she applied this recipe to the books she had read before her illness, she also gained a new understanding. "I used to read "The Story of Lei Feng", but I felt that Lei Feng's experience since he was a child was more bumpy, but now I read it again and have admiration for him. Even though his life was so rough, he grew up to help others, and this spirit is worth Xi. ”
Re-acquainting yourself with books and the life stories of the people in them is also a process of re-examining your own life.
Walk on the "bridge" to another world
By the halfway point of the "Reading Assistance Program for Blind Children", Yang Yang had only participated in two or three live classes, and even this year's summer camp could only be watched back later—for most of the summer, she and her school partners were preparing for the gateball competition of the 11th Shandong Provincial Games for the Disabled.
Basically all the time I spent practicing goalball, and I could only squeeze out time to write my reflections. She admits that she doesn't have enough time, so she can only compress her reading time, "Many times it takes about a day or two to read three or four pages." ”
Although he was forced to compress his reading and class time, Yangyang's feelings and gains were not compressed.
As for the newly Xi learned reading method, she talked eloquently: "You should read more, and secondly, you should read with interest and curiosity, if you don't know about books, it is meaningless to read." ”
And more gains are reflected in her life, after she participated in the live class on the theme of "Knowing the Name of Plants and Trees", and read "Insects" under the guidance of the teacher, she re-acquainted herself with such wonderful creatures as insects, "I was very afraid of insects before, but since then I have slowly learned to accept them." ”
She realizes that book selection and interpersonal communication are similar: "If you read a good book, you've made a good friend, and if you read a bad book, you've made a bad friend." ”
Because he has experienced a healthy life for 9 years, it has been difficult for Yangyang to accept his identity change since he got sick, "I don't like to chat with others, and I don't dare to go out." After her comprehension of books and characters improved, she had more conversations with other students.
Yang Yang was deeply impressed by a sentence he learned in general education: "Books are the ladder of human progress."
But for her, books are more like a solid bridge between the two worlds in which she lives: "I now dare to discuss a book or an article with other classmates, and slowly I begin to get familiar with everyone, and I am also familiar with the crowd and have more friends." ”
Compared with the bridge of books, the "Reading Assistance Program" is like a pair of gentle and powerful hands, pushing Yangyang slowly towards the other side of the bridge, and at the same time reminding her:
Hey, both sides of the bridge, equally fascinating! ”
In March 2022, Beijing Hongdandan Cultural Service Center for the Visually Impaired joined the China Children's Charity Association Children's Relationship United Way Program to carry out the Reading Assistance Program for Blind Children. Main content:
1) To produce excellent daisy books and mind-to-heart magazines for blind children;
2) Produce a visual narrative version of the short film;
3) Set up live classes for reading guidance, establish reading interest groups, enhance reading exchanges between families, teachers and students, improve students' reading level, and embed reading more deeply into school education.
Every child's dream deserves to be guarded, on this special day, let us pay attention to children with disabilities and work together to help public welfare move forward!
Origin of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities
In 1976, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 1981 as the International Year of Disabled Persons in order to draw attention to people with disabilities and set the theme of "full participation and equality".
In December 1982, the 37th session of the United Nations General Assembly adopted the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons, proclaiming the period from 1983 to 1992 as the "United Nations Decade of Disabled Persons".
On 12 and 13 October 1992, the 47th session of the United Nations General Assembly held its first special session on disability since the establishment of the United Nations. The General Assembly adopted a resolution designating 3 December as the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.