Sometimes a help, sometimes a hindrance
On the sidewalks of Shanghai pedestrians constantly encounter some of the 2,500 kilometers of tiled pathways set into the sidewalks to help blind and visually-impaired people find their way around the city. There are 500,000 officially-registered disabled people who live in Shanghai and 20 percent of them are visually impaired. For them a stroll along the street is not always an easy task.
A municipal government report published in May showed the government has invested large amounts of money into trying to ensure that disabled people had access to as many facilities as possible. From 2003 public venues, sidewalks, hospitals, banks, cinemas and libraries began ensuring that the disabled had ready and easy access, though most residential compounds in the city have yet to catch up on this move.
Shanghai has tiled more than 2,500 kilometers of sidewalk for the blind and visually impaired. According to the city's access construction office, each kilometer of such tiling costs an average 90,000 yuan ($14,078). But the good intentions don't always work for the best.
There are obvious problems with these tiled pathways for the blind. It is common to find rubbish, vehicles or food carts blocking what should be free passages.
Fang Zhijiang, the vice chairman of the Shanghai Disabled Persons' Federation, told the Global Times: "In fact very few blind people use the sidewalk paths because there are too many obstacles on them and they are afraid to use them. These sidewalk paths are often better to look at than to use."
Fang said he wants to see a change in public awareness for the visually impaired but he feels this is a very difficult challenge.
"Many people thought it was unnecessary to build this sort of facility that could give access to impaired people. It's not surprising that these paths are often obstructed," Fang said.
He said he believes this shows that today's Chinese citizens lack a sense of humanity, and that this attitude does not fit well with Shanghai's new identity as a major modern international metropolis.
"We are calling on the people in this city to care more about the disabled. This means just a small change in their behavior but it means a lot for the building of the spirit of a truly civilized city," he said.
