People’s Daily Online
Asian Para Games mirrors Hangzhou's achievements in barrier-free environment
By Liu Botong
Creating a barrier-free environment is crucial for safeguarding the rights and interests of people with disabilities. It aims to guarantee their equal and convenient participation in various social activities.
The 4th Asian Para Games, hosted in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang province, demonstrated its exceptional commitment to providing comprehensive accessibility for individuals with disabilities. It showcased its professional standards and attentive service by offering a wide range of barrier-free facilities both in and outside competition venues, including barrier-free ramps, barrier-free elevators, and barrier-free restrooms.
"The venue is great. We can move freely here," said Chinese female wheelchair basketball player Huang Xiaolian, referring to the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Stadium.
The needs of competitors and spectators of the Asian Para Games have been fully taken into consideration during the construction of the stadium, said Zhu Yizhi with the team operating the stadium.
After the Hangzhou Asian Games concluded, the stadium was soon converted to get ready for the Asian Para Games. To better facilitate wheelchair basketball players, the stadium was renovated to improve accessibility, adding ramps and modifying the locker rooms to appropriate heights, Zhu said.
It is learned that the Asian Para Games in Hangzhou has 19 competition venues distributed in eight competition zones, and 17 of them are converted from the Asian Games venues.
Barrier-free facilities can be found everywhere in the competition venues, including elevators with Braille buttons, accessible restrooms with voice guides and designated rest areas for guide.