Guo Bailing’s name is a homonym for “Guo Bailing”.
But fate favored dark humor, and when he was 16 months old, he contracted polio, which crippled his legs. “Don’t talk about climbing mountains and ridges, I can’t even climb a dirt slope.”
When he was in elementary school, Guo Bailing used a small bench half the height of a person to travel. When his classmates ran and jumped to school, he moved the small bench little by little, rain or shine. After entering university, he had his first pair of crutches in his life Relying on their support and the help of his classmates, Guo Bailing never missed a class; sitting in a wheelchair was a later thing. At that time, he had already developed the skills to live independently. You can do it yourself after work, going out for meetings, and eating in the cafeteria.
Guo Bailing’s daily activities range from his hometown village to new first-tier cities with relatively rich barrier-free facilities. Although it is difficult for him to climb mountains physically, he has climbed countless mountains in his life.
How high is the “cost” of getting out the door
Unlike most disabled people, Guo Bailing likes to go out for a walk. He works in Ali. Apart from the company park, he often goes to scenic spots, shopping malls, and parks in Hangzhou. He will pay special attention to the barrier-free facilities in public places, and record them to reflect upwards. Especially the difficulties I have encountered, I don’t want to let other disabled people be affected.
Guo Bailing’s wheelchair got stuck in the gap between the stone slabs during a meeting. After he posted a post on the intranet, the company quickly made barrier-free renovations to 32 places in the park, including the stone slab road.
The Hangzhou Barrier-free Environment Promotion Association also often communicates with him, asking him to start from reality and put forward more life-oriented barrier-free suggestions to promote the improvement of the city’s barrier-free environment.
In fact, in recent years, barrier-free facilities in China, especially large and medium-sized cities, have been constantly improving and evolving. In the field of transportation, the penetration rate of barrier-free facilities in 2017 has reached nearly 50%.
However, among the disabled group, people like Guo Bailing who “love to go out” are still very few.
At present, the total number of disabled people in China exceeds 85 million, of which more than 12 million are visually impaired and nearly 25 million are physically impaired. For people with physical disabilities, it is “too expensive” to go out.
There is an up master at station B who once photographed a special trip for a day. After one foot was injured, she temporarily relied on a wheelchair to travel, only to realize that the usual three steps required hand-wheeling the wheelchair more than ten times on the barrier-free ramp; I didn’t notice it before, because bicycles, cars, and construction facilities often blocked the passage for the disabled, so she had to “slip” on the non-motorized lane, and she had to pay attention to the bicycles behind her from time to time.
At the end of the day, despite meeting countless kind-hearted people, she was still sweating profusely.
This is the case for ordinary people who temporarily sit in wheelchairs for several months, but it is difficult for more disabled groups to be accompanied by wheelchairs all year round. Even if they are replaced by electric wheelchairs, even if they often meet kind people to lend a helping hand, most of them can only move within the familiar radius of daily life. Once they go to unfamiliar places, they must be prepared to be “trapped”.
Ruan Cheng, who suffers from polio and has both legs disabled, is most afraid of “finding his way” when he goes out.
In the beginning, the biggest “hurdles” for Ruan Cheng to go out were the “three hurdles” at the door of his house – the threshold of the entrance door, the threshold of the building door and a slope close to home.
It was the first time for him to go out in a wheelchair. Because of his unskilled operation, his center of gravity was out of balance when he crossed the threshold. Ruan Cheng fell on his head and hit the back of his head on the ground, which left a great shadow on him. It’s not friendly enough, it’s very laborious when going uphill, and if you can’t control the acceleration well when going downhill, there will be a safety risk.
Later, as wheelchair operation became more and more proficient, and the door of the house underwent several rounds of barrier-free renovations, Ruan Cheng crossed these “three hurdles”. After becoming the third runner-up in kayaking in the National Paralympic Games, he was often invited to events, and his opportunities to go out gradually increased.
But Ruan Cheng is still very worried about going to unfamiliar places, because he does not know enough information and there is a lot of uncontrollability. In order to avoid underpasses and overpasses that wheelchairs cannot pass through, people with disabilities mostly refer to walking navigation and cycling navigation when they go out, but it is difficult to completely avoid safety hazards.
Sometimes I ask passers-by, but many people don’t even know what barrier-free facilities are
An experience of taking the subway was still fresh in Ruan Cheng’s memory. With the help of the subway route navigation, the first half of the journey was smooth. When he got out of the station, he found that there was no barrier-free elevator at the subway entrance. It was an interchange station between Line 10 and Line 3. Ruan Cheng recalled from his memory that there was a barrier-free elevator on Line 3, so he, who was originally at the exit of Line 10, had to walk around the station with a wheelchair for a long time to find it. The exit of Line 3, after exiting the station, circle back to the original position on the ground to go to your destination.
Every time at this time, Ruan Cheng would unconsciously feel a kind of fear and bewilderment in his heart. He was at a loss in the flow of people, as if he was trapped in a narrow place and had to find a way to solve the problem. After finally “coming out”, I was exhausted physically and mentally.
Later, Ruan Chengcai learned from a friend that there was a barrier-free elevator at Exit C of the subway station on Line 10. If I learned about it earlier, wouldn’t it be a waste of time to go around such a long way? However, the barrier-free information of these details is mostly held by a small number of fixed people, and the passers-by around them don’t know it, and the disabled people who come from afar don’t know it, so it constitutes a “blind zone for barrier-free access”.
To explore an unfamiliar area, it often takes several months for the disabled. This has also become a moat between them and the “distant place”.
An experience of taking the subway was still fresh in Ruan Cheng’s memory. With the help of the subway route navigation, the first half of the journey was smooth. When he got out of the station, he found that there was no barrier-free elevator at the subway entrance. It was an interchange station between Line 10 and Line 3. Ruan Cheng recalled from his memory that there was a barrier-free elevator on Line 3, so he, who was originally at the exit of Line 10, had to walk around the station with a wheelchair for a long time to find it. The exit of Line 3, after exiting the station, circle back to the original position on the ground to go to your destination.
Every time at this time, Ruan Cheng would unconsciously feel a kind of fear and bewilderment in his heart. He was at a loss in the flow of people, as if he was trapped in a narrow place and had to find a way to solve the problem. After finally “coming out”, I was exhausted physically and mentally.
Later, Ruan Chengcai learned from a friend that there was a barrier-free elevator at Exit C of the subway station on Line 10. If I learned about it earlier, wouldn’t it be a waste of time to go around such a long way? However, the barrier-free information of these details is mostly held by a small number of fixed people, and the passers-by around them don’t know it, and the disabled people who come from afar don’t know it, so it constitutes a “blind zone for barrier-free access”.
To explore an unfamiliar area, it often takes several months for the disabled. This has also become a moat between them and the “distant place”.
In fact, most people with disabilities yearn for the outside world. Among the social activities organized by various associations of persons with disabilities, everyone is highly motivated to participate in projects that create opportunities for disabled groups to go out.
They are afraid of being alone at home, and they are also afraid that they will encounter various difficulties when they go out. They are caught between the two fears and cannot move forward.
If you want to see more of the outside world and don’t want to bother others too much, the only solution is to exercise the ability of disabled people to travel independently without additional help from others. As Guo Bailing said: “I hope to go out with confidence and dignity like a healthy person, and not cause trouble to my family or strangers by going the wrong way.”
For the disabled, the ability to travel independently is their greatest courage to go out. You don’t have to be a worrying burden to your family, you don’t have to cause trouble to passers-by, you don’t have to bear other people’s strange eyes, and you can solve problems by yourself.
Fang Miaoxin, the inheritor of bamboo carvings in Yuhang District who is also suffering from polio, has driven through countless cities in China alone. After obtaining the c5 driver’s license in 2013, he installed an auxiliary driving device for the vehicle, and started a “one person, one car” tour around China. According to him, he has driven about 120,000 kilometers so far.
However, such an “veteran driver” who has traveled independently for many years will often encounter problems during the journey. Sometimes you can’t find an accessible hotel, so you have to pitch a tent or sleep in your car. Once he was driving to a city in the northwest region, and he called in advance to ask whether the hotel was barrier-free. The other party gave an affirmative answer, but when he arrived at the store, he found that there were no thresholds to get in, and he had to be “carried in”.
Fang Miaoxin, who has a lot of experience in the world, has already exercised his heart to be extremely strong. Although it will not cause psychological pressure, he still hopes that there will be a navigation route for wheelchair travel, clearly marked with information on barrier-free hotels and toilets, so that they can arrive independently. Destination, it doesn’t matter if you have to walk a little more, as long as you don’t take a detour or get stuck.
Because for Fang Miaoxin, long-distance is not a problem. At most, he can drive 1,800 kilometers a day. The “short distance” after getting off the bus is like traveling through the fog, full of uncertainties.
Turn on the map “accessibility mode”
Protecting the travel of the disabled is to help them “find certainty in uncertainty”.
The popularization and transformation of barrier-free facilities is essential. As ordinary able-bodied people, we must also pay attention to maintaining a barrier-free environment in our lives so as not to cause difficulties for disabled groups. In addition, it is necessary to try to help the disabled to overcome blind spots and accurately find the location of barrier-free facilities.
At present, although there are many barrier-free facilities in China, the degree of digitization is relatively low, in other words, there is no Internet connection. It is difficult for disabled people to find them in unfamiliar places, just like in the era when there was no mobile phone navigation, we can only ask the locals nearby to ask for directions.
In August of this year, when Guo Bailing chatted with several Ali colleagues, they talked about the difficulty of traveling for the disabled. Everyone was deeply touched and suddenly wondered whether they could develop a wheelchair navigation specially for the disabled. After a phone call with the product manager of AutoNavi, it was discovered that the other party was also planning such a function, and the two hit it off.
Previously, Guo Bailing often published some personal experience and insights on the intranet. He never exaggerated his own experience, but always maintained an optimistic and positive attitude towards life. Colleagues are very sympathetic to his experience and ideas, and they are very enthusiastic about this project, and they all think it is very meaningful. Therefore, the project was launched in only 3 months.
On November 25, AutoNavi officially launched the barrier-free “wheelchair navigation” function, and the first batch of pilot cities were Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou.
After users with disabilities turn on the “barrier-free mode” in AutoNavi Maps, they will get a planned “barrier-free route” in combination with barrier-free elevators, elevators and other barrier-free facilities when traveling. In addition to the disabled, the elderly with limited mobility, parents pushing baby strollers, people traveling with heavy objects, etc., can also be used for reference in different scenarios.
In the design stage, the project team needs to try the route on the spot, and some project team members will try to simulate the travel mode of the disabled to experience it “immersively”. Because on the one hand, it is difficult for ordinary people to put themselves in the shoes of the disabled to identify obstacles in the process of moving; on the other hand, to achieve comprehensive information sorting, and to prioritize and balance different routes requires a more refined experience.
Zhang Junjun of the project team said, “We also need to avoid some sensitive places to avoid psychological harm, and hope to be more considerate than serving ordinary people. For example, the information display of barrier-free facilities is rigorous, route reminders, etc., so that vulnerable groups will not be affected. Psychological harm.”
“Wheelchair Navigation” will also be continuously improved and iterated, and a “feedback portal” has been designed for users, aiming to collect collective wisdom. Better routes can be reported and then optimized by the product side.
The employees of Ali and AutoNavi also know that this cannot completely solve the travel problem of the disabled, but they hope to “ignite a small flame” and “be the starter in the Frisbee” to push things forward in a positive cycle.
In fact, helping people with disabilities to improve the “barrier-free environment” is not a matter for a certain person or even a large company, but for everyone. The measure of a society’s civilization depends on its attitude towards the weak. Everyone does their best. We can guide a disabled person seeking help on the roadside. Technology companies use technology to “remove” obstacles and benefit more people. Regardless of the size of the strength, it is an expression of goodwill.
When driving to Tibet, Fang Miaoxin discovered, “On the way to Tibet, what is lacking is oxygen, but what is not lacking is courage.” This sentence applies to all disabled groups. It takes courage to go out, and this courage must be better. Travel experience to maintain, so that every time you go out, it is a courageous accumulation, not a waste.
Post time: Dec-10-2022