Chinese library opens world to the blind with music, books and smartphone classes
The library in southwest China gives the often-marginalised group a chance to mingle with society
In a small library in Kunming, the capital of China’s southwestern Yunnan province, you will find a group of people huddling over tables, running their fingers over Braille pages and discovering the world through their fingers.
The library, opened by a private bookstore, is the first of its kind in the province and offers 500 Braille titles to visitors.
Volunteers also run various courses for the blind, including classes in singing and drumming, as well as lessons on how to use screen-reading apps to make phone calls and send instant messages, Chinanews.com reported on Wednesday.
“Social opportunities are rare (for us). Some families have the ability to take their (visually impaired family members) out to walk around and be in touch with society, but there are some that are closed up at home and isolated from society,” said patron Zhao Yutao.
“Smartphones are tremendously useful for us; it’s almost as if they’ve opened a window for us to enter a new world,” he continued.
