Yang Qingfeng is addicted to sound.

Like most blind people, he makes his other senses compensate for the one that does not function properly. Unlike most people, however, he wants to capitalize on his disability by persevering with a project that is either an oxymoron or the ultimate in derring-do: blind reporting.

 

(Video by Chinadaily.com.cn multimedia staff)

At September's International Goalball Tournament in Beijing, the first test event for next year's Paralympics, Yang, 25, who has played the game since he was a child, made a radio program to help familiarize people with the sport.

"I told my listeners how to visualize the direction of the ball from the different sounds it makes when hitting different objects," he said. "Only people like me can make this kind of program."

At Beijing One Plus One Culture Exchanges Center, a non-profit organization founded in March 2006 and run by people with disabilities, Yang and six other visually impaired people have jumped out of their traditional career fields -- as masseurs or piano tuners -- to try their hand at being radio journalists.

A 2006 national census indicates there are 82.96 million disabled people in China making up 6.34 percent of the population. Most take up jobs that only require menial labor skills, such as making handicrafts, or working as masseurs or acupuncturists, according to the China Disabled Persons' Federation (CDPF), the governing body for disabled Chinese in the country.

This is not exploiting their potential, argue the members of One Plus One, who each hold college degrees and are extremely tech-savvy.

They use special audio software to help them use computers and mobile phones. Like their peers, they often rely on MSN messenger to communicate while at work.

"Thanks to the fast development of technology, people with disabilities have more career opportunities," One Plus One founder and director Xie Yan said. Xie was an IT professional before bone cancer changed his life in 2003.

The group now produces two to three hours of programming each week and uploads it on their website.

"Radio and the Internet are good media for the blind to communicate with the rest of society," he said.

"We don't just sit around waiting for society to give us a hand. We strive to get our messages out there."

Pursuing the Olympic dream

"The 2008 Beijing Paralympics is a great platform for all Chinese people with disabilities," the director said.

"As Chinese journalists with disabilities, we have solid reasons for, and enough capability to, cover the Beijing Paralympics."

Yang Qingfeng interviews the equestrian gold medalist from Inner Mongolia at the 2007 Shanghai Special Olymics. [China Daily]

Since the one-year countdown to the 2008 Paralympics in September, the studio has been preparing for how to cover the world's second-largest sporting event.

In September, they went to report the one-year countdown gala and Good Luck Beijing International Goalball Tournament to get a feel for the kind of exposure that high-profile events carry.

Last month at the 2007 Special Olympics in Shanghai, Yang and three of his colleagues became China's first team of disabled reporters at an international event.

After the opening ceremony, Yang raced back to the press center and did a rough edit of the audio materials. He then filed this to the Beijing studio at 2 am for post production work. It went on air that afternoon by Inner Mongolia Radio Station.

"They are professional radio journalists and their work has a very high standard," said Han Xiaojuan, an editor at the radio station.

One Plus One made two live broadcasts of 50 minutes each for the station, one about the opening ceremony and the other about equestrian events, Inner Mongolia's strongest sport.

"The quality of the sound effects and the programming are much higher than our requirements," said Han. "They presented the event from a unique perspective. Their work was full of emotion," she said.

Although the two sides never met and only talked over the telephone, "we didn't make a single error and our cooperation was perfect," she said.

"They work so hard and so well that we often forget they have disabilities."

The feedback from listeners was equally positive.

"People sent us messages saying that the live broadcast was very good and our cooperation with One Plus One was fresh and bold," she said.

Other journalists at the Special Olympics also registered some surprise at the new face of the competition.

"It was my first time to meet a blind journalist in China. I think what they are doing is really cool," Rao Binbin, a journalist with China Radio International (CRI), told China Daily.

"I understand why they want to become journalists and take up sports. They want to get involved in society and do the same thing as us."

Yang called the Special Olympics a dress rehearsal for the Beijing 2008 Paralympics.

"We are more familiar with big sporting events, we have figured out our work flow and polished our reporting skills," the director said.

"Now we are trying to get media accreditation for the Paralympics. With our successful reporting on the Special Olympics, we think we have a good chance of making it happen."