Dignity and disability
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Guangxi native Huang Lu sells insoles and socks, while her husband, Wei Haiqun, transports items using a modified tricycle to support their daughter, who was born last year. "We lead a simple life. But we're happy together," Huang says. |
"I've since had many firsts－making money, opening an online shop, visiting the county seat and going to the supermarket," Lan says.
She's among 12 women featured in the Inspiring Change:
Lives of Women and Girls with Disabilities photo exhibition at Beijing's Cafe Zarah, which runs through Jan 9.
The show was opened by Handicap International and a United Nations agency on Dec 3, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. The dozen women with disabilities in the portraits are from the Tibet autonomous region, Yunnan province, Guangxi and Beijing. Consultant Yan Lei took the photos of the women, who have all benefitted from the work of the NGO Handicap International.
More than 40 million Chinese women and girls live with disabilities, three-quarters of whom reside in the countryside.
UN Women (China) country program director Julie Broussard says: "Empowering women living with disabilities to participate fully in economic and social life－be it as employees or entrepreneurs, citizens and leaders－is essential for achieving an economically prosperous, more gender equal and violence-free society. Empowering women living with disabilities benefits society as a whole."
The show doesn't focus on hardships but, rather, empowerment.
