This is a blind girl interviewed the previous summer, when she had just successfully entered the full-time graduate school of the Communication University of China!
The epidemic has made everyone's life difficult, approaching the Spring Festival, I suddenly thought of her, this girl who can't see the road under her feet, but can go farther and more wonderful than us, is living well now?
I'm going to jump out of this circle
Dong Lina, from Dalian, Liaoning Province, was born in 1984 with weak eyesight and was completely blind at the age of 9.
She graduated from school for the blind in 2003 and, like most blind practitioners, became a masseuse. The difference is that she also has a dream – to jump out of this circle and try a different life.
If you want to develop in other aspects, you must first have the corresponding knowledge. To this end, Lina communicates with many institutions while self-studying, hoping to have the opportunity to further study. But after 3 years of running, the result was: "They said they had not recruited blind people, and now they do not want to recruit." ”
Blind people mainly engage in massage
Occasionally, blind people work as tuners
In 2006, Lina "saw" online that the Beijing Hongdandan Education and Culture Exchange Center was conducting free broadcast training for visually impaired youth, and immediately called to contact.
Soon, she came to the capital alone, and a new chapter began in her life.
Why can a rural girl have such vision and courage?
Lina said that the biggest influence on her was her grandmother. Grandma had little education, but respected knowledge, which made Lina have a strong desire to learn from an early age. Later, she read books eagerly and listened to the radio to choose columns with content.
"Then there's the power of faith." She said. In junior high school, under the influence of a classmate, she embraced Christianity, believing that "everyone is unique," including people with disabilities like herself.
When she first arrived in Beijing, Lina did not know the broadcasting profession. But soon, she found that she not only liked it more and more, but also had a lot of potential.
After more than two months of training, Lina stayed in the Red Dandan public welfare organization to do training for visually impaired friends and help more people change their destiny.
Persist gently
In 2008, Lina went to Shenzhen to work as a host on an Internet radio station.
In 2010, she returned to Beijing and soon participated in the first "Xia Qing Cup" National Recitation Contest held by the Central People's Radio, and won the second prize! You know, there are only two people in the first prize!
However, just a few months later, she was hit: when she signed up for the undergraduate examination of higher education, she was rejected because of her vision.
In the end, the Beijing Education Examination Institute allowed Dong Lina to refer to it, and promised to provide convenient examination conditions for all visually impaired candidates.
Speaking about it, Lina said: "I prefer to communicate with them. It's just that things got to this point and I had to do that. ”
How people with disabilities can fight for their rights, she advises:
First, we must calm our minds. It is useless to be anxious, and sometimes it will affect the society's understanding of the disabled group, "thinking that we have nothing to do."
Second, we must persist, "gentlely insist."
The road for the visually impaired is bumpy, but under the "gentle persistence", the obstacles are also decreasing little by little.
In 2014, the Ministry of Education allowed blind people to participate in the national recruitment examination, and since then China has had blind college students in the context of integrated education.
In 2019, there was a "blind person who studied for graduate school". Although only a few people are referenced each year, "but this is already good".
The dream of graduate school comes true
Braille represents pinyin with small bumps arranged in different arrangements
In May 2020, Lina became the ace graduate student of the Communication University of China, majoring in broadcast hosting, and the most difficult academic master's degree to obtain and the most difficult to graduate (followed by professional and part-time).
Blind people are already difficult to study for graduate school, and the epidemic is even worse. Fortunately, Lina did not encounter many artificial obstacles.
In September 2019, Lina handed over a letter to the Graduate Admissions Office of the Communication University of China explaining her personal circumstances, wishes and relevant policies.
Blind people use their fingertips to "read" Braille
"The reaction of Zhongchuan is completely different from the school I have been exposed to before! They accepted the letter, not perfunctorily, but really studied it. More than a month later, the Research and Recruitment Office agreed to Lina's reference.
Because her household registration and files are in Dalian, Lina has to go back to take the exam. "Dalian has previously supported a visually impaired student to participate in the national unified college entrance examination, and for me to participate in the postgraduate examination this time, they are both very supportive and experienced, so I am very smooth this time." I'm so happy! ”
Yes, society has progressed, and there are more and more opportunities for visually impaired people.
There are 4 subjects in the examination, 2 subjects per day, 3 hours in the morning and afternoon.
Using Braille is slow. A line of words, we glanced over, but they had to grope the position of the small bulge to determine which letter it was, and then spell out the letter, and finally form a sentence.
Answering the questions is the opposite of reading the questions, and they use a special pen to tie out a convex pinyin letter on the hard paper.
Braille phonetic vowel table
Lina's exam time increased by 50%. "Believe me, it's just an increase in time, and I can't finish answering." At that time, I wrote it, and my hands were crippled! ”
In February 2020, the results of the preliminary examination were announced, but due to the epidemic, the school's admission line has not been determined. The long wait made Lina very anxious, and in mid-May, "when I saw the school line release, I was really in tears – I passed!" ”
Braille Phonics Matrix
A week or two later, Lina took the re-examination, and the on-site examination was changed to an online examination due to the epidemic. According to the regulations, after the candidate selects the test question by lot, the manuscript will be displayed on the screen, and after 10 minutes of preparation, the candidate will start reading aloud.
But Lina could only read Braille, so the examiner specially arranged a teacher to read out the manuscript she had selected sentence by sentence, and she wrote it down in Braille and then read it by touching the Braille. "The cost of taking the exam for the visually impaired is really high, but it's really important to us!"
Blind people write by means of needle
At the beginning of June, the results of the re-examination were announced, "when I saw the three words 'you admitted' on the Internet, I was once again particularly excited"!
Throughout the exam process, Lina was given "reasonable convenience", but not overly concerned.
"I think it's good. Fairness is enough, I don't want to be treated specially, especially not at a lower level. ”
The road to public welfare is long
What are your plans after graduation? Lina said she hasn't decided yet, but will stick to two things: one is to go further in the professional field, and the other is to care about the learning and employment of visually impaired adolescents.
In 2017, she began broadcast hosting training for the visually impaired, and she wanted to let blind friends know that there was another possibility beyond tuina.
Although there are still many difficulties, Lina feels that the living environment of the visually impaired is much better than before.
A restaurant in Fujian launches a Braille menu
For example, with special mobile phone and computer software, they can use the Internet and WeChat. During the interview, she took out her mobile phone several times, clicked a few times, and listened to it in her ear to receive the message.
After my manuscript was written, I sent it directly to herself, and soon she replied clearly.
"Technology is only an improvement for clear-eyed people, but it is an earth-shaking change for us."
I was on a WeChat call with Lina
Now that the network is developed, blind people can do self-media, do audiobook recording work on the Internet, "if you do a good job, you can completely support yourself"!
However, she also hopes that friends who learn to host broadcasters really like and have the ability and perseverance not to follow the trend.
Lina insists that visually impaired people can also have different ways of living, but they can pay more than healthy people.