Disabled volunteers let the light extend beyond the Winter Olympics arena
In the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics, disabled people will shine through the form of volunteers.
The reporter learned from the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee that the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and the Winter Paralympics will recruit 19 volunteers for the Paralympic Games, aged between 19 and 63, with occupations covering teachers, medical workers, and communities. Workers, Disabled Persons' Federation workers, college students, company employees, etc.
In the arena, disabled athletes will challenge the limit of life with a strong will; outside the stadium, disabled volunteers will provide help to others with enthusiasm and optimism, deliver positive energy, and at the same time realize their own social values.
The light will extend beyond the Winter Olympics arena.
Paralympic champion and "Double Olympic Volunteer" Liu Yukun said that recruiting disabled people as volunteers has a very strong exemplary role.
"Now there are tens of millions of disabled people in China. As volunteers, more disabled people will see that we are equal to the able-bodied. Everyone lives in the same blue sky without inferiority."
Liu Yukun
Will serve as an event service volunteer in the public area of the Olympic Park
"Live as a beam of light, illuminate more people"
On November 23, at IceCube, the theme event of "100 Days Countdown to Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympics" was rehearsing. 63-year-old Liu Yukun stood in the center of the venue, waving the flags of the Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics.
During the Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics, Liu Yukun will serve as an event service volunteer in the public area of the Olympic Park.
"I was a torchbearer and a volunteer at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. I was able to catch up with the two Olympics in my life and become a'Double Olympics Volunteer', which is a very happy thing."
Paralympic champion retires and joins volunteer work
Running, chasing, climbing, marathon... these words often popped out of Liu Yukun's mouth.
In the past few years, she stood on stage preaching the Winter Olympics and participating in speech contests. The audience was applauded and everyone would often ignore that she was a person wearing a prosthesis.
Liu Yukun said that before the age of 18, she was a guard of the school's basketball team and often played football, skating, and ice hockey with boys.
At the age of 19, he entered the factory as an electric welder, and one day was hit by a steel plate behind him.
"It knocked me out at the time. When I opened my eyes again, my feet were gone."
Since then, Liu Yukun put on a prosthesis and started to learn to walk and ride a bike again. After each practice, she would wear blisters and even bleed on her legs, but she just didn't use any crutches.
In 1984, Liu Yukun came to Beijing to change prostheses. When passing by the Workers' Stadium, he saw a group of disabled people training.
This caused a great shock in Liu Yukun's heart. "Can the disabled participate in the Olympics?" Soon after, Liu Yukun wore a prosthetic limb and once again devoted herself to the sports career that once filled her with happiness and dreams.
In Liu Yukun's career, he won 22 gold medals and broke the world record 6 times.
After retiring, Liu Yukun became a volunteer dedicated to public service.
"After retiring from the military, I did not live a life of nurturing life like an average elderly person, and I have always taken volunteers to make contributions. I feel that I have no feet, and I can use my strength to serve others and pass on the love I have received. This way, a healthy person will work harder if he sees it." Liu Yukun said that he suddenly changed from a healthy person to a disabled person. There was a huge gap in his heart.
"I just thought, how can people be strong when they encounter difficulties and accidents? To survive, to live as a beam of light, and to illuminate more people."
Recruiting disabled people as volunteers has a demonstrative effect
Since his retirement, Liu Yukun has been doing volunteer work.
At first I climbed the mountain outdoors, picking up rubbish thrown by tourists.
Later, volunteers were brought into the community to give residents a demonstration of garbage sorting.
In 2017, Liu Yukun joined the Beijing Winter Olympics propaganda team and became the first batch of propaganda speakers.
Once, Liu Yukun and members of the propaganda team went to Altay, Xinjiang, the birthplace of human skiing.
"On the plane, many people saw our team and asked what they were doing. We said it was the Winter Olympics propaganda group. At that time, the Winter Olympics was still far away from the common people. Many people didn't know what was going on. We were on the plane. Just tell them what the Winter Olympics have, what their significance is, and what benefits they will bring to our country.” This experience made Liu Yukun feel that preaching the Winter Olympics is a particularly important thing. She hopes that through the introduction of the presentation team, Let the elderly and children on the street all tell the meaning of the Winter Olympics.
When it was determined that he was hired as a volunteer for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, Liu Yukun was very surprised, "I am 63 years old and most of the volunteers now are young people. It is very surprising that I can be a volunteer. There are so many people to thank."
In Liu Yukun's volunteer experience, there are not many disabled volunteers, but she feels that disabled people can also play their own value. Recruiting disabled people as volunteers has a very strong exemplary role.
"Now there are tens of millions of disabled people in China. As volunteers, more disabled people will see that we are equal to the able-bodied. Everyone lives in the same blue sky without inferiority."
Liu Yueyuan
Will serve as event service volunteers in the stadiums of the Capital Gymnasium
I hope that being a volunteer can inspire similar people
In the first handicapped dry land curling competition in Beijing in April 2019, Liu Yueyuan stood in the middle of the field, with the hearing impaired athlete on the left and the referee on the right.
Her gestures were fast, flying up and down.
When helping the referee communicate with the hearing impaired athletes, Liu Yueyuan felt like a bridge.
Build a "bridge" between the able-bodied and the hearing impaired
There are many opportunities to become a "bridge".
Liu Yueyuan loves to visit night markets. She often encounters hearing-impaired people who have difficulty bargaining in the night market. She often walks forward and acts as a sign language interpreter between the stall owner and the buyer.
"The stall owner was surprised at first. Why do you know how to sign language? Although I often visit the night market here, the stall owners don't know that I am hearing impaired."
Liu Yueyuan is a hearing-impaired and can read lip language. She has no problem listening and speaking in a quiet environment. In a noisy environment, she needs to wear a hearing aid.
By a coincidence, Liu Yueyuan's advantage was able to play on the field. She could clearly express the meaning of the hearing impaired athletes, and she could also smoothly convey the rules and requirements of the referee to the athletes.
Since then, most of the sports competitions held by hearing impaired athletes in Beijing have been able to see Liu Yueyuan.
"When helping others, they will share their experiences with you. One to share with you and all of them to share with you will open up your horizons." Liu Yueyuan introduced, when she was simultaneously interpreting for a dry-field curling competition. Met a 60-year-old athlete.
"He told me that he used to be the coach of the basketball team, from basketball coach to dryland curling player, which made me feel incredible. From his experience, I realized that as long as I have a breath, I have to do what I want to do. matter."
The charm of competitive sports is to give people the courage to be positive.
In the first handicapped dryland curling competition in Beijing, Liu Yueyuan not only acted as a sign language interpreter for the entire stadium, but also participated as an athlete.
Before the game, she and her teammates did a lot of training. By the time of the finals, there were six districts in a wheel fight. Liu Yueyuan gave the final blow and won the game.
"The experience of winning the game makes me more convinced that I can."
This will be a wonderful experience in life
When I saw information about the recruitment of volunteers for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics on the Internet, Liu Yueyuan immediately signed up.
"I wanted to be a volunteer to help people in need at the 2008 Olympics, but I was only a teenager. This time I thought, I can't miss it anymore and I must participate."
After a series of rigorous and meticulous screening and interviews, she was finally admitted as an event service volunteer in the Capital Gymnasium.
Liu Yueyuan said that she was not a particularly proactive and good-speaking person, but when she saw the disabled people exhausted her sweat during the competition, she especially wanted to take the initiative to help them, "for example, hand over a towel and water. , And then help them return to the rest area so that they don’t need to run around by themselves after the game."
Participating in serving the Winter Olympics and Paralympics as hearing-impaired volunteers is of special significance to Liu Yueyuan.
"On the one hand, it can reflect self-worth, on the other hand, I think that I participate on behalf of the hearing-impaired group." Liu Yueyuan believes that volunteering by herself can inspire many people similar to her.
Liu Yueyuan is now the manager of a children's playground in a shopping mall in Beijing.
Because she is going to be a volunteer for the Winter Olympics and Paralympics, and the job of the store manager is highly mobile, she is ready to leave.
“Fish and bear’s paws are not both. I think it’s more important to participate in volunteer activities. This will be a wonderful experience in my life. My family also said, don’t just go to boring work, and go for more experience. The same lifestyle makes my life more exciting. I can find a job again. I think it is more important for me to enrich my life."
Yang Yiming
Will serve as an event service volunteer in Zhangjiakou Mountain News Center
Getting help will make people happy and want to bring happiness to more people
Yang Yiming is a sophomore student at Hebei University of Civil Engineering and Architecture.
On November 23, he came to Beijing from Hebei to participate in the rehearsal for the theme event "100 days countdown to the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympics".
After entering Ice Cube, Yang Yiming and other volunteers did a nucleic acid test first.
When lined up, standing in front of Yang Yiming was a pair of hearing impaired art workers. "They express each other in sign language, and the expressions on their faces are very happy, especially happy. I feel that they are very vigorous and energetic."
According to Yang Yiming, the school gathers the reserve staff of the Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics volunteers, and spends two days a week training on Winter Olympics knowledge.
"Tell us about the Winter Olympics venues, the history of the Winter Olympics, and introduce outstanding athletes." In addition, Yang Yiming also learned basic medical knowledge such as artificial respiration and chest compressions during the training. What should I do in the face of emergencies such as fires? Guide personnel to evacuate, etc.
Yang Yiming told reporters that he has a third-level hearing impairment, and face-to-face communication is still possible, but if he is 5 meters away, he may not be able to hear clearly.
He has severe high-frequency hearing loss, and low-frequency hearing loss is relatively light, so it is easier to hear low-pitched male voices, and it is not easy to hear low-pitched female voices, and requires lip language assistance.
Considering that during the Winter Olympics, volunteers, athletes, and spectators will wear masks and cannot see the lips. Yang Yiming has already figured out a countermeasure. “If you can’t hear clearly, just ask a few more times. Ask the other party to speak louder. Prepare paper and pen, I believe you will still be very patient."
Yang Yiming has always been keen to participate in various voluntary activities.
This winter vacation, Yang Yiming served as a volunteer in the community to help measure temperature and distribute masks.
"I often get into troubles in my life. When I receive help from others, I feel very happy, so I also hope to pass this happiness to more people. Give roses to others and leave the fragrance in my hands. When I have When I want to help others, I already have the ability to help others."
Beijing News reporter Wang Jingxi