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在线翻译:
szdaily -> People -> 
Dialogue in the dark
    2011-06-03  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

“I hope blind people will be widely accepted in the job market, not just limited to the massage industry. Other possibilities include psychological consultant, English teacher and foreign trader.”

— Liu Tianhua

                                  

    Tina Chen

    HE can communicate with ease by phone, e-mail and instant messaging software.

    He even speaks excellent English with an American accent.

    He talks in such a calm and assured way that you don’t feel any difference between him and other professionals.

    But Liu Tianhua at a German company’s Shenzhen office is one of the very few blind people who live and work like the visually unimpaired.

    Before working for the German company, he worked as a masseur for 12 years in Luohu District.

    He said he was pursuing his ideal of persuading more companies to hire the blind.

    

    Vision beyond sight

    The German company where he works now operates a program called Dialogue in the Dark, which provides exhibitions and workshops for discovering the unseen.

    “The exhibitions and workshops are offered in total darkness. In the workshop, blind guides lead visitors through complete darkness where one learns to interact by relying on other senses,” said Liu.

    “During the workshop, we have coffee and wine in the dark, we dine in the dark and, most importantly of all, we talk in the dark.”

    Liu is one of the four coaches in the workshop who are blind.

    “We assist participants and observe their responses in the dark and then give them feedback because the environment is familiar to us.”

    Liu said the workshop is hugely significant as it allows participants access to a new world.

    “A manager from Shanghai Bao Steel Group said he changed his perspective on life after the workshop.

    “Indeed, the workshop is more about helping you to discover the unseen than understanding the lives of the blind.

    “You begin to question your assumptions as you experience your limits. And you will understand things that are unseen.”

    The workshop was opened in 1988 by a doctor in Germany, who was asked to find a job for a blind friend.

    The doctor thought it impossible for the blind to work. But he was very impressed by the blind man who was handsome and well-organized.

    “He then decided to create methods of communication between the blind and others to reduce misunderstanding, as the doctor had his own prejudices to overcome although he was well-educated,” said Liu.

    “Prejudice is always the result of lack of communication. People do not believe that I, a blind man, can do so many things such as using a computer, taking a flight, checking in at a hotel and walking on the street.

    “I came up with the idea of persuading more companies to hire the blind because I learnt that employees of Google.com have masseurs and masseuses in the office. The massage service is the employees’ perk, and every company should provide such benefits, so why not hire blind people to do the job?

    “My current job gives me the opportunity to make friends with many decision-makers of companies and I believe I can persuade them to do so. I hope blind people will be widely accepted in the job market, not just limited to the massage industry. Other possibilities include psychological consultant, English teacher and foreign trader.”

    

    Pride of the blind

    Liu was born in 1973 to an ordinary family in Harbin, capital of Northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province. His vision was impaired by a fever when he was only 3 and he was totally blind at the age of 15.

    Then Liu attended a special school for the blind and later on enrolled at Changchun University, majoring in traditional Chinese massage.

    Liu came to Shenzhen in 1997 and worked as a traditional Chinese masseur for 12 years in the Blind Li Massage Center at Luohu Commercial City in Luohu District.

    “At that time, only daring young people would come to Shenzhen, and I was one of them,” said Liu.

    “Life at the center was also highly competitive. We were paid based on the number of customers we served each day,” Liu said. “So you had to attract more customers by having good massage skills and giving satisfactory service. You could earn more only if you were better than others.”

    Most customers of the massage center were either from Hong Kong or expats living there.

    “I was popular among them as I spoke good English and I could explain traditional Chinese medicine to them,” he said. “The system of accupoints or energy channels in traditional Chinese medicine is a special and strange philosophy to them. But they all admitted to feeling the effect of the traditional Chinese massage.”

    Liu had at least three clients a day, most of whom became his regular customers. He earned about 7,000 yuan (US$1,080) each month.

    Liu said his professional skills came from having trained in university. He and his classmates sought help from senior students and did a lot of practice themselves.

    But he said he learnt more from the work of how to communicate with others. He now believes communication is the most important thing in earning a living.

    “With that experience, I won a job opportunity at the German company,” he said.

    

    Happily married

    Liu married in 2001. The couple first met during their internship in a company in East China’s Fujian Province.

    Rong Can, Liu’s wife, also has impaired vision.

    “Our roles in the family are that I am the cook and he is the dish washer,” said Rong.

    Rong also has plenty of amusing stories: “One day I asked him to turn off the light. He didn’t act for a while so I turned it off. But he came over a while later and turned it on although he meant to turn it off.”

    “We have many things in common with other ordinary couples,” said Liu.

    “We will also quarrel if we disagree with each other. And we gradually adapted to each other because of our mutual love.”

    Liu and Rong will travel to one city every year.

    Liu is going to visit Germany on business and he said he would tell Rong everything interesting that he experienced while traveling abroad.

    

                               

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