Suzhou held its first “Happy Race” for visually impaired people at Liangfeng Ecological Park in Zhangjiagang 14th of May to mark the 33rd National Day for Helping the Disabled (observed on the third Sunday of May, falling on May 18 this year).
Guided by volunteers, participants ran along the course, becoming a beautiful sight to behold and interpreting the meaning of celebrating life and optimism. The logistic and medical teams provided help throughout the event to ensure the safety of each runner.
“I’m very excited and very touched by people cheering us through the whole course. (Thanks to them) I don’t feel tired, and running doesn’t seem that difficult,” said a runner named Guo Jiandong.
This March, six visually impaired runners from Suzhou Association for the Blind participated in the 12th Suzhou Jinji Lake Half Marathon. They were guided by volunteers from Suzhou Little Red Cap Volunteers Association and finished the race successfully.
The races involving visually impaired people further promotes the image of Suzhou as a city friendly to people with disabilities and highlights the building of barrier-free living environment in the city. Suzhou started to build itself into a barrier-free city in 2002, and is one of the first 12 demonstration cities for building barrier-free living environment named in 2005.
Over the years, Suzhou has been building and improving its accessible facilities. A total of 219 care centers for the disabled and 167 elderly care institutions have been equipped with accessible facilities in accordance with the services they provide; an accessible map was rolled out in October last year, allowing disabled people to check restaurants, markets, hospitals, hotels, rail transit stations, railway stations and parking lots on mobile map apps; a regular TV program featuring sign language has been broadcast for over 10 years; and at the accessible cinemas, visually impaired people can listen to movies.
Thanks to the infrastructure development and the building of barrier-free living environment across Suzhou, special groups including the disabled are able to be involved in the society from public spaces to communities and enjoy a better life.