Life bright for pavilion shining light on people with a disability

• Source: Global Times
• [08:25 August 10 2010]
• Comments

Visitors try a wheelchair at the Life and Sunshine Pavilion. Photo: CFP

By Duan Wuning

The only one of the 373 pavilions at the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai to cater to the needs of people with a disability in all 159 years of Expo history, the Life and Sunshine Pavilion marked a milestone Monday, receiving more than twice as many visitors as originally expected months ahead of schedule.

Surpassing its initial target of welcoming some 600,000 visitors through its doors during the six-month event, the visitor tally Monday reached 1.25 million. More than 14,000 of these visitors were people with a disability.

But for Zhu Guoxiang, a blind person who leads visitors through a dark passage, and is among the some 50 volunteers with a disability at the pavilion, the success Monday was somewhat bitter-sweet.

"I'm sad because there's only about 80 days left of the Expo, which means I won't be able to be a volunteer here soon," he told the Global Times Monday. "I hope that these kinds of activities can be launched more in the future so more people can understand what it's like to live with a disability."

Apart from letting visitors experience the daily obstacles that people with a disability face, the pavilion also acts as a platform for people to exchange ideas about barrier-free facilities. Some of these appliances, including adjustable countertops and bathroom handles, will be adopted at public places around the city after the Expo concludes to make life more convenient for people with a disability, according to Gong Borong, deputy director of the Life and Sunshine Pavilion.

Gong, who is also the deputy secretary general of the Shanghai Disabled People's Federation, said the pavilion has hosted meetings with other participants, including Italy, Netherlands, and the USA pavilions, over the past few months, to promote such barrier-free facilities.

"It's important that we advocate for these kinds of facilities as much as possible since every little bit helps," he said. "These kinds of appliances can make a big difference to improving the quality of life for people with a disability."

Gong added that their goal is to further promote these government-subsidized facilities to neighborhood communities as well as in the countryside as people with a disability living in rural areas have fewer opportunities to receive aid.