Xinhua
21st January 2024
Across China: Rehabilitation assistance brightens future of disabled children
At Hongmeng disabled persons' service center in Lanzhou, capital of northwest China's Gansu Province, dozens of children are engaged in various activities such as stretching their limbs, practicing walking, and reciting words and sentences, guided by their rehabilitation therapists, at the break of dawn.
As the only designated rehabilitation institution for disabled children in Yongdeng County, Lanzhou, the center through local government sponsorship has provided free treatment for more than 200 children with cerebral palsy, autism, or intellectual disabilities over the past four years.
Many disabled children uttered their first "mom" or "dad" and took their first steps at the center, and director Meng Caiping believes that early training allows them a chance to reintegrate into society.
In 2018, China established a national assistance system for the rehabilitation of disabled children that reinforced funding and institutional support for efforts to assist them. Therefore, Meng founded the Hongmeng disabled persons' service center, with the assistance of the county's disabled persons' federation.