How do you live in one of the world’s busiest cities, but you cannot see?
Shanghai has nearly 600,000 people with disabilities. This means nearly 24 out of 1,000 people in the city have some form of impairment. So, you could encounter one or more of them in any neighborhood, school or workplace on any day.
“Shanghai is a warm city,” said Zhu Chenggang, who lavished praise on Shanghai’s efforts to “bring people with disabilities convenience and dignity” during the city’s “Two Sessions” political meetings held in January.
Yes, they are not left behind. As Chinese President Xi Jinping noted, “the cities are built by the people and are for the people.” Shanghai also focuses on people’s needs amid its urban planning and development considerations.
Actually, Shanghai started to create a barrier-free environment for people with disabilities in the 1980s, but it was just a small-scale campaign limited to main roads and nearly-built complexes. It wasn’t until 2003 when Shanghai became the first in the nation to issue special regulations on barrier-free facilities, thus catapulting their construction into the fast lane.
Increasingly over the ensuing years, barrier-free toilets and elevators, wheelchair ramps and tactile paving (patterns marked on the ground for the blind) have emerged in public venues. Yet there’s a lot of improvement still to be done.
To speed up barrier-free construction, on a par with more developed cities, Shanghai on August 11, 2021, issued its five-year plan to support people with disabilities, underlining the construction of a barrier-free city.
Specifically, Shanghai envisions providing overall accessibility for people with disabilities during the 14th FiveYear (2021-25) Plan period, highlighting improved designs and regulations on infrastructure and services.
One year has passed. How’s it going? Shanghai Daily spent a day with a pair of blind twins — both accomplished baristas — to see what their life is like in one of the world’s most populous cities.
Yin Tianbao and his twin brother Yin Tianyou spend nearly 75 minutes every day commuting from their home in Minhang District to the coffee kiosk they work at in the Pudong New Area.
Both born blind, the brothers, 23, take a bus to the Metro station, and then take two subways before walking through an underground passageway to the workplace. The brothers and their parents feel generally re journey — as lo bus station.
“The most diff is to walk from to the bus statio parents — some would walk us th time.”
The brothers l a compound bu Longwu Road. have tactile pav and a wet marke it even more diff
“The passage and there are oft there, not to men front of the wet store,” said Yin twins.
After leaving t ers have to wal the bus station occupied almos bikes and trees.
“We generally there are very takeout,” said T attached to the arms.”
When a family one of the brot the other follow on his shoulder much use the ta because it is ofte connected.
However, som roads, such as a side signboard, c would know whe bumps into an o
Waiting for the for them. As 11 the Longwu Roa brothers have to it is.
“We could reco ing to the sound but not all of th if two buses arr can usually only one, and the sec when we reach it for 40 minutes a We hope that in a station broadca buses arrive.”
Traffic difficu tered by peopl disabilities.
Qian Yudao, a h ist in her 20s w said she hadn’t she started to u school.
“The gap betw train car, for ex for me,” Qian s sible for me to p the car all on m
eassured about the long ong as they can reach the
ficult part of the commute m our residential building on,” said Tianyou. “So my etimes my grandfather — here as long as they have
live with their parents in uilt in the late 1950s on The compound doesn’t ving, and a grocery store et in the compound make fficult for the brothers. eways are quite narrow, ten cars parking here and ntion trucks unloading in t market and the grocery n Jingjing, mother of the
the compound, the brothlk on the bicycle lane to because the sidewalk is st completely by shared
feel safe but sometimes fast mopeds delivering Tianyou. “The big boxes mopeds might graze our
member is not with them, thers uses a stick while ws him with both hands rs. They said they don’t actile paving on the street en occupied and not wellmetimes
obstacles on the a tree, a pole or a streetcould be their guide. They ere to turn when the stick obstacle. e bus is another challenge different buses stops at ad-Fanghe Road Stop, the o ask the driver which bus
“The most difficult part of the commute is to walk from our residential building to the bus station. So my parents — sometimes my grandfather — would walk us there as long as they have time.
Yin Tianyou
ognize some buses accordds of opening their doors, hem,” said Tianbao. “And rive at the same time, we y ask the driver of the first cond one would be gone t. Once I waited at the stop as I kept missing the bus. n the future there will be ast announcing when the
ulties are also encounle with other types of
human resources specialwith physical disabilities, used a Metro line since use a wheelchair in high
ween the platform and the xample, is a big challenge said. “It’s almost impospush the wheelchair into my own.”
The road condition is another problem. According to Qian, if she wants to go to a market near her home, she needs to traverse a long slope that is quite bumpy.
“The drop between sidewalks and streets is also a challenge,” she said. “Sometimes I have to detour for a long time to find a slope so that I can get off the sidewalk and go across the street.”
But the disabled have found that some people are always helpful when they encounter difficulties along the way. Take Tianbao and Tianyou for example.
They can ride buses and Metro trains for free, and bus drivers will scan their offline venue code from a card that is hung on their neck. In the subway station, they go to the service center to get the code scanned again and then the staff open a special gate for them to get access.
“There are barrier-free elevators available in the subway stations, but we’re used to going up and down the stairways,” said Tianyou. “The tactile paving in the station is very friendly so we can easily find our usual spot to get on and off the train, ensuring we won’t be lost after we get off.”
Staff at Hinichijou Café, where the twins work, give them a helping hand as well. Before the kiosk opened, Hinichijou staff repeatedly guided the men to the bathroom in Times Square, the mall in front of which the kiosk stands, until they had learned the route by heart. Security guards in the mall also keep an eye on them and lend a hand if any emergency happens.
As for Qian, she feels that the city’s barrier-free facilities are getting better.
“Now almost every building has a slope at the entrance for wheelchairs, and we have more barrier-free buses than before,” she said. “Meanwhile, there are apps for the disabled so that we could know where barrier-free facilities are available. I feel that we’re cared about.”
More change is expected to happen in the future. Shanghai Metro, the operating company of all local Metro lines, reported to the Shanghai People’s Political Consultative Conference late last month that bridging plates will be used in Metro stations. If needed, staff in the station will place a plate between the platform and the train car for wheelchairs, baby carriages and seniors.
Experiments have been carried out in parts of Metro Line 3 stations and have been well received.
The company said that up to the end of this year, 60 percent of stations in the city will be equipped with bridging plates. Passengers also will be able to contact the station in advance for the service.