Feature. When researchers study challenges they live with

Xinhua

17th May 2026

Feature.  When researchers study challenges they live with

Editor: huaxia

A young researcher sitting in a wheelchair looked out at the audience in a Beijing conference hall and described a future in which blind people can move through crowded streets with devices capable of sensing danger before it arrives.

"A guide device should do more than detect obstacles," he said. "It should work almost like a second pair of eyes."

Around the room, heads nodded in recognition. Many people there understood the challenge intimately because they were living it themselves.

Ahead of China's national day of assisting persons with disabilities, which is observed on the third Sunday of May, the country held a forum for disabled doctoral students and scholars. Researchers working in fields ranging from artificial intelligence to psychology and human-computer interaction gathered to discuss technology, accessibility and inclusion.

But this was far from a typical academic conference.

Many of the participants were not studying disability from a distance. They were researching problems they encounter in their own daily lives.

https://english.news.cn/20260517/d31a031248344192bb1ef59df46c9980/c.html