AFTER finishing breakfast at the canteen of Junhua Shoe Factory in Xishui County, Southwest China’s Guizhou Province, Feng Zhilin, 39, arrived at the workshop to start his day.

When he was just a child, he was sadly diagnosed with a deformity in his spinal column, causing him to hunch over. In the past, he made a living by raising sheep and farming in his hometown, earning a meager income.

“I raised several sheep back then. But I couldn’t catch up with them if they ran away,” he said.

Things took a turn for the better in 2017, when Feng attended employment training for the disabled organized by the local disabled persons’ federation. In 2018, the shoe factory was put into operation, and he was recommended to work there by the local government.

With a monthly income of about 3,000 yuan (US$440), Feng not only improved his family’s living conditions, but was also able to pay for his younger brother’s college tuition fees and living costs.

The factory has 123 employees with disabilities. In order to make their lives and work easier, accessible facilities have been installed across the factory.

There are 85 million disabled people in China. Thanks to concerted efforts by various departments, their employment channels have greatly expanded, and multiple forms of employment for disabled people have taken shape.

According to a three-year plan issued by the Central Government, 1 million new jobs for persons with disabilities in urban and rural areas will be created between 2022 and 2024.

Official data show that from 2016 to 2020, 7.1 million disabled people in rural areas in China were lifted out of poverty, and more than 1.8 million disabled people were newly employed in urban and rural areas. Each year, an average of 400,000 disabled people participated in government-subsidized vocational training programs.

Sunday marked the national day of persons with disabilities, an occasion when special activities are launched to raise public awareness of helping the vulnerable group. The annual occasion falls on the third Sunday of May. (Xinhua)