Disabled people take skills route to success

Brighter future

China has channeled great resources in the form of supportive policies, finance and legislation, to improve the living conditions of people with disabilities and expand their prospects.

The growing digital economy and new industries have also created more job opportunities for disabled people.

The amended Vocational Education Law, which took effect from May 1 last year, says authorities should take measures to support disabled people's educational institutes, vocational schools and other educational organizations to offer vocational training programs to disabled people.

By the end of 2022, over 9.05 million registered disabled people had found jobs. About 502,000 disabled people finished skills-training programs in 2022, according to the China Disabled Persons' Federation.

"It's encouraging to see that the employment of disabled people has greatly changed over the past decade," Cheng Kai, vice-president of the federation, said in a recent interview with people.cn.

"In recent years, we've seen the employment rate of disabled people in urban areas rise by nearly five percentage points. They are now showing their talents in different sectors and industries."

Cheng said the skills competition was an example of meeting disabled people's needs. The adjustment to the event categories this year reflected disabled people's career preferences.

"We've seen many talented disabled people at the competition, especially at some internet-related events," he said. "They are also showing great passion and loyalty for their jobs."

Wang Ning is the vocational capability director of the federation's Employment Service and Administration Center.

He said that the nine new competition events including drone operation and 3D-printing technology cover sectors such as digital economy, advanced manufacturing and the modern services industries. The emergence of these careers for disabled people will improve their employment prospects and provide higher incomes.