China wheelchair users dodge traffic on rough road to recognition

China wheelchair users dodge traffic on rough road to recognition

Cars, scooters and bicycles wait impatiently at traffic lights ready to zip across one of Shanghai’s main roads. In the thick of them sits an old man in an electric wheelchair. Nearby, another wheelchair user is pushed along in the street as traffic whizzes past just inches away.

Busy, narrow or clogged pavements-haphazard rows of rentable bikes are a prime offender-sometimes force people in wheelchairs to brave the busy downtown roads of China’s biggest city. Overpasses seemingly constructed with little regard for people with disabilities, uneven pavements, badly made ramps and patchy access to public transport can also make life difficult for “wheelers”.

They say that the situation is even worse outside China’s first-tier cities but is generally improving compared to just a few years ago. Zhao Hongcheng is a video blogger who highlights the challenges she faces in Shanghai and other cities. Now 31, she contracted polio as a baby and has been in a wheelchair since she was 11.

Wheelchair users in roads or bike lanes are an incongruous sight, but it is also noticeable how few people with disabilities are out in public. “You rarely see them because, first of all, barrier-free travel is not perfect so it is difficult