A law requiring that 1.5% of government jobs be allocated to the disabled is widely ignored. Not only are guide dogs banned in much of the country, but many blind people are hesitant to use canes out of concern that they will make them identifiable as different. Career choices for the blind are strictly limited.
"Basically you can be a masseur or a piano tuner," said Liu Ying, 37, who chose the former.
Blind since early childhood because of cataracts, Liu manages one of about 400 massage parlors in Beijing that are under the supervision of the federation for the disabled. He would have preferred to be either a musician or a journalist.
In fact, he is now achieving part of his dream by setting up a website about the Paralympics with the assistance of computer software that reads text from the Internet.
For the Paralympics, China is fielding a delegation of 332 athletes, including a 25-year-old woman with cerebral palsy who is competing in track and field, several archers and shooters who have lost limbs, as well as blind runners.
Perhaps because so many Chinese were unable to get near the stadiums for last month's main Olympics, tickets are sold out for events at the Water Cube and Bird's Nest -- the most showy Olympic venues.
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barbara.demick@latimes.com
Nicole Liu of The Times' Beijing Bureau contributed to this report.
