Sitting in front of a PC, Chen Bin's body writhes while his hands fumble with the keyboard. Strings of words jump up on the screen. Chen, who suffers from the aftermath of infantile paralysis, is competing in a contest for computer programmers.

Almost 600 people, in 31 groups, are taking part in the second national professional skills competition for handicapped people, also known as the Second Abilimpics China, which began Aug. 9, in Shanghai and ends August 23 in Beijing. The participants will showtheir skills in five categories and 22 items, ranging from computer programming to handicraft making.

The organizer said the event is aimed at helping the handicapped become more aware of their own abilities and potential,and helping the public learn more about the capabilities and desire for work of the handicapped population.

Over the past few decades, China has made strenuous efforts to remove all kinds of hurdles, both physical and psychological, for the handicapped.

In cities, more and more facilities have been built to assist the handicapped, and even in remote areas local governments have tried hard to relieve them of difficulties in their daily lives.

Since 1988, China has made notable achievements in tackling theissue of employment for the handicapped population, which tops 60 million, accounting for five percent of the country's 1.3 billion people. At the end of 2002, the employment rate for the handicapped reached 82 percent, compared to less than 50 percent in 1988, according to Deng Pufang, chairman of the China Disabled Persons' Federation.
(People's Daily   Aug 22, 2003)