As the music comes on, they begin to move across the stage
slowly at first, then pick up the tempo. The only thing unusual
about the scene is that the dancers are almost all blind.
At the Recreational Center for Disabled Persons in Beijing's
Xuanwu District, about 50 blind people learn dancing on Tuesday and
Thursday afternoons.
Song Yue, 48, is one of them. Ten years ago, she developed
fundus oculi disease and had to quit her job in a bank. The loss of
sight also made her reluctant to talk to others.
"I stayed at home for almost 10 years," she said. "Then I was
brought here to learn to dance one day earlier this year when my
family heard on the radio that there was a special dance class for
blind persons."
New doors are opening for blind people in China not just in
recreation but also employment and education. Eventually, those who
are visually disabled may be judged not by what they cannot do, but
by what they can. And they can have fun like everyone else, even as
dancers.
But learning how can be tough. Song had great difficulty
learning to dance at first. "I had no sense of how to move since I
can see almost nothing and it is hard to learn only through the
words of the teacher," she said.
Gradually, Song became used to moving in under the teacher's
guidance after several classes.
"I can now dance the tango and rumba with my partner," she said
proudly.
Moreover, she became more willing to talk to others. "I felt so
sorry for myself after losing my sight, but now I realize I can
still do something that is usually impossible for blind people,"
Song said.
"Dancing is not only an activity for physical exercise, but also
an occasion to communicate with others because you meet people who
have the same physical disabilities."
Guo Songdong, the dance teacher, said: "Blind people show much
interest in dance here. Most of them come from the downtown areas
of Beijing, and there are some from the outskirts."
The dancing class for blind people began in early 2001.
"We came up with the idea of providing more chances for them to
have social interaction and thus help them to regain confidence for
life," Guo said.
Guo, 60, has been teaching dance for more than 30 years. "I
never imagined blind people could learn to dance until I came here
to teach them," he said.
At the class, each person learns how to move step by step at
first with Guo, and then they start to dance with their partners in
step with the music.
"But it is far from easy to teach a blind person, who has no
dancing experience and can see almost nothing," Guo said.
For example, it takes almost four hours to teach the blind
students a single movement, as opposed to only several minutes for
sighted people, Guo said.
"As a result, I always encourage them to learn through hearing
instructions and touching their own bodies," Guo said. "You know
that blind people, to compensate, have good senses of hearing and
touch."
Moreover, Guo stands still after each movement and asks his
students to touch him. "It allows them to know what each movement
is," he said.
After years of teaching experience, Guo has developed a concise
formula, which tells students how to move and in which direction.
For example, "back, back and down" means moving back two times and
then stooping down.
Last year, the recreational center selected 10 pairs of dancers
for a blind persons' dancing competition. It was well-received and
widely acclaimed.
"Dancing helps them better communicate with others and become
more confident of life," Guo said.
A 50-year-old blind man, surnamed Wang, travels nearly two hours
by bus with his wife every Tuesday and Thursday to dance. "We were
curious about dance three years ago, and we quickly developed an
interest in it," Wang said.
Wang also likes the dancing music. "We forget those unhappy
things when we dance with music," Wang said.
Blind people used to experience much difficulty in terms of
employment and education, let alone recreational activities,
according to Li Weihong, director of the China Association for the
Blind (CAB), a non-governmental organization affiliated with the
China Disabled Persons' Federation.
"But following improvements in terms of employment and education
in recent years," Li said, "they have begun showing interest in
social interaction."
Learning and jobs
The first national survey on disabilities in 1987 revealed that
China had about 60 million people with disabilities, of whom 8.77
million are visually handicapped.
"There are 4 million others who suffer both visual problems and
other disabilities," said Li.
The country is currently conducting its second national survey
on disabled people, and the number of people with visual problems
is expected to be double that of 1987, Li said.
Sources with the Ministry of Health said in April that China has
about 4.5 million new blind people every year.
"As the number continues to grow, blind people thus meet with
greater pressure in terms of employment and education in today's
modern digital society," Li said.
He added that blind people used to work in the social welfare
sectors from the 1950s to the 1980s, but later moved to massage
industry in the 1990s.
About 5,000 blind people were trained and then transferred to
the massage sector early in 1996 when the China Massage Association
of Blind Practitioners was set up to help blind people better get
employed.
At present, more than 90,000 blind people have been trained and
work as massage practitioners.
"They cannot see, but they get a new life in massage since most
of them are now able to depend on themselves for their
livelihoods," Li said.
"In addition to medical treatment for blind people, we have
realized that they should go out into society even though they are
visually handicapped," said Li, adding that some of them can earn
more than 1,000 yuan (US$125) per month as massage
practitioners.
According to Li, China has more than 500,000 blind people who
regain their sight after cataract-removal operations and 20,000 who
can see with assistance from medical equipment every year.
The Chinese Academy of Sciences developed the Chinese Braille
Computer System in 2003, enabling blind people to read Chinese
articles directly and enjoy the convenience of computers.
Early this year, 156 blind people in the country completed their
online training and obtained certificates that qualify them as
psychoanalysts, Li said.
More than 200 blind students from 20 provinces and
municipalities enrolled for the training project, which started in
October 2004.
After studying basic psychology, social psychology, mental
health and disabilities, as well as professional ethics and
diagnostic skills through multimedia training materials, they are
expected to be employed as psychological counselors in schools and
hospitals.
Some of them have already tried to provide counseling services
by running a hotline, website or through an ICQ or online chat
system, according to Li.
Besides the training program, some have also already opened
online shops and their own websites to sell goods.
The number of such shops and websites has reached more than 100,
Li said.
"Computers serve as the eyes for blind people in today's digital
and information society," said Li, adding that there are other
groups of people who work as translators, music editors and even
computer programmers online after training on computers.
Education authorities have also prepared examinations in Braille
so that blind students can sit the national college entrance
examination.
Blind students in Shanghai became the first in China to sit the
annual college entrance examination in 2003.
Previously they could get access to only special or technical
secondary schools.
(China Daily May 22, 2006)