Xinhua News Agency, Hohhot, April 18th title: Give the disabled a beam of light! 15 years of cultural week illuminates spiritual life

　　Xinhua News Agency reporters Wei Guanyu and Beihe

　　In the Baotou Library of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in spring, the warm pictures touch people's hearts-

　　After a reading party, the reading volunteers walked around the table to their familiar visually impaired friends, shook hands enthusiastically and greeted each other, "I haven't seen each other for a while." "I've heard the sound that your cold is cured, your hands are so warm."

　　This is a scene of the 2025 National Disabled People's Cultural Week activities that are being carried out across the country. On April 16, this brand event, which has lasted for 15 years, was launched in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia.

　　On April 15, disabled people rehearsed fan dance at the Qingshan District Disabled Persons Comprehensive Service Center of Baotou City, Inner Mongolia. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Behe

　　The total number of disabled people in my country exceeds 85 million, accounting for about 6% of the total population. In recent years, the supply of public cultural services for the disabled has become increasingly convenient and rich, like a beam of light illuminating the spiritual life and driving the majority of disabled people to write their wonderful lives with a tenacious will.

　　They walked out of their homes and enjoyed the cultural spring breeze that was swaying to their faces—

　　Baotou Library distributes safety vests for visually impaired readers for free, and carries out more than 3,100 online and offline activities, serving nearly 620,000 people; Ordos Cultural Center has been fully accessible, with ramps, blind paths and handrails inside and outside the museum, and a wheelchair-enabled knee space is reserved to facilitate disabled people to regularly participate in cultural activities such as calligraphy, painting, recitation, and dance... The activities of the National Disabled People's Cultural Week are a warm microcosm of the daily equal participation of disabled people in my country in the daily and equal participation of cultural life.

　　Data is the most powerful proof.

　　Taking the visually impaired as an example, at present, there are 35,000 blind reading rooms in public libraries at all levels across the country, 150 million Braille books, 2.29 billion audio-visual documents, and a total of more than 16.7 billion hours of audio-visual resources. The blind digital reading promotion project promotes 400 public libraries across the country to equip nearly 190,000 smart book listening machines, with a total of more than 100 million online interactions and 35.83 million hours.

　　They integrate into society and actively participate in the passionate cultural practice-

　　"It's not difficult to paint large pieces of color, but this kind of small details requires some effort." At the Hohhot Cultural Center, 23-year-old Yao Jing generously introduced the cloisonné enamel paintings he created to customers in front of the counter.

　　Yao Jing suffers from dwarfism and has been in the workshop where she has been for 6 years. Cloisonne enamel, paper-cutting, Songjin... Over the past few years, she has gradually become easy to make intangible cultural heritage and cultural creations.

　　On April 17, Yao Jing, who was employed in Mule Workshop in Hohhot, sorted out intangible cultural and creative products from the stalls at the Hohhot Cultural Center. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wei Guanyu

　　"I am very happy every day to be able to accompany beautiful culture and do meaningful things." Yao Jing also has more than a dozen disabled colleagues. "We understand skills and have income. Our lives are not much different from those of ordinary people."

　　At present, there are 26 employment and entrepreneurship institutions for disabled people in Hohhot, which has driven 528 people to find stable employment; among the employment and income increase projects for disabled women, one has been rated as the first batch of "beautiful workshops" in the country.

　　A relevant person in charge of the China Disabled Persons' Federation said that by the end of this year, 100 "beautiful workshops" enterprises or institutions will be built across the country to help 10,000 disabled women achieve employment and income increase in the field of handmade production.

　　"Millions of disabled friends bravely walked out of their homes and into society, turning from bystanders of cultural activities to participants, and becoming the protagonists of cultural life." said Zhang Weixing, vice chairman of the China Disabled Persons' Federation.

　　They are confident and independent, convey an optimistic attitude towards life—

　　"The dark clouds are quite bold, and they can't blow away when they are pressed on their heads. I grabbed them into marshmallows, so what troubles can't be forgotten?"

　　At the launch ceremony of the Cultural Week held on the evening of the 16th, a 9-year-old blind boy Xiaohan sang a song "Little Mermaid" in a white gauze dress, with a tender and clear singing.

　　"I'm not nervous, I'm all 'old actors'." Before going on stage, she smiled and told reporters, her tone was light and confident.

　　What made Xiao Han particularly excited was that his idol, Chang Bin, director of the Shiguai District Disabled Persons' Federation of Baotou City, sat down in the audience to watch the performance. Chang Bin, now 28 years old, although suffering from dwarfism, her vocal music, guzheng and piano performances have appeared on many professional stages at home and abroad.

　　"As long as you take the first step, you can do it too!" This is what Chang Bin said the most to the disabled audience.

　　"I want to encourage more children to participate in cultural activities like Sister Chang Bin." This is Xiaohan's small goal.

　　The dance "Thousand-Handed Guanyin" has toured more than 2,200 global tours so far, and nearly 300 cultural and creative works by disabled women in more than 30 "beautiful workshops" across the country have been unveiled in Paris, France, showing exquisite skills... People with disabilities in my country temper cultural masterpieces with unique life experiences, spreading oriental aesthetics and Chinese stories all over the world.

　　"The culture of disabled people goes from behind the scenes to the front stage, from niche to the public, becoming a special landscape." Zhang Weixing said, "These works full of life force interpret the completeness with incompleteness, and reach the infinite with limited."

[Editor in charge: Wang Di]