Athletes are accessible everywhere

　　Our reporter Ren Shan

　　Yesterday, the International Paralympic Committee and the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee jointly held a regular press conference for the Beijing Winter Paralympics.

The reporter learned from the meeting that the athletes in the Paralympic Winter Games venues have eliminated slight height differences, and installed automatic doors at the main entrance, barrier-free seats, barrier-free elevators, barrier-free toilets, etc., to ensure that the venue facilities and passage are barrier-free.

In addition, safety protection equipment is added to the track, such as bumper pads and bumper bars, to protect the lampposts, electric boxes and wooden fences close to the track to ensure the safety of athletes.

　　In the National Gymnasium, where the Paralympic ice hockey competition is held, a simulated ice surface is laid on the ground where athletes enter and exit the locker room, which is convenient for athletes to enter and exit directly wearing assistive devices.

Photo by our reporter Wu Yibin

　　In the "Ice Cube" of the National Swimming Center, the venue for wheelchair curling competitions, a barrier-free reporter's booth was set up in the first row of the press conference room.

Photo by our reporter Wu Yibin

　　Eliminate slight height differences and add anti-skid facilities

　　Liu Yumin, director of the Planning and Construction Department of the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee, introduced that from the beginning of preparations in 2016, the Winter Paralympic Games and the Winter Olympics have adhered to the principle of "simultaneous planning and simultaneous implementation" to ensure that "the two Olympics are equally exciting".

Adhering to the concept of "Athletes as the core", according to the physical conditions and actual needs of the participating athletes, the main entrance automatic door, barrier-free seats, barrier-free elevators, barrier-free toilets, barrier-free showers, barrier-free ramps are set up. , elevator to remind the blind, athlete locker room, low-level service desk, barrier-free signs, etc., the snow stadium also has barrier-free waxing room, barrier-free cable car system, etc.

Everywhere the athletes go, the slight height difference is eliminated, and anti-skid safety measures are added.

　　Eye-catching, concise and easy-to-understand barrier-free guide signs are set up in the venues; Braille, large-character text or voice prompts in both Chinese and English are specially equipped at anti-doping checkpoints, medical clinics and other locations to facilitate visually impaired athletes to clearly understand relevant matters.

　　In order to ensure the safety of Paralympic athletes, on the basis of the Winter Olympics track, safety protection equipment, such as crash pads and crash bars, has been added to protect lamp posts, electrical boxes and wooden fences close to the track. , with special personnel to conduct regular inspections.

At the same time, in order to ensure the normal use and maintenance needs of disabled athletes' prosthetic limbs, wheelchairs and other assistive devices, a standard wheelchair prosthesis repair room is set up, and a professional technical team is equipped to provide guarantee services to ensure that the services are barrier-free.

　　Tens of thousands of people visit the venue to experience

　　The improvement of barrier-free facilities in venues will drive the construction of barrier-free environments in host cities.

Yang Jinkui, director of the Paralympic Department of the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee, shared the changes in the equal integration of disabled friends into social life with his own experience.

　　"I am a disabled person. I was disabled due to work at the age of 26. I have to go to work every day for nearly 30 years, and the workload is very heavy. In fact, the more disabled friends, the higher their desire to work, because He not only needs to meet his survival needs, but also his spiritual needs, and the people who work are the most beautiful." Yang Jinkui said that there are about 85 million disabled people in my country, and now government agencies, institutions and enterprises will recruit them on a proportional basis. Disabled.

　　Guo Xusheng, vice chairman of the Beijing Disabled Persons' Federation, called on everyone to go to the streets of Beijing to experience the construction of a barrier-free environment.

"After 3 years of special campaign to build a barrier-free environment, from roads to barrier-free buses, from barrier-free cinemas to public service institutions, from hospitals to banks, the urban environment has undergone subtle changes everywhere, with 336,000 barrier-free points in the city. It has been improved.” Guo Xusheng introduced that Beijing has also established a barrier-free experience team of more than 2,000 people, mainly the elderly, the disabled, and experts, to experience the Winter Olympics, Winter Paralympics venues and various points in the society. More than 10,000 people visited the venue to experience it.

At present, the overall satisfaction rate of the barrier-free environment in Beijing is over 88%.

　　Where there is a road in the Winter Paralympic Village, there is a blind road

　　One of the most touching scenes at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Paralympics was when the last torchbearer, Li Duan, a visually impaired athlete, lit the main torch.

During the competition, both the competition venue and the Winter Paralympic Village fully took care of the needs of the visually impaired.

For example, the Winter Paralympic Village offers Braille menus in the athlete's restaurant, and Braille is available in all venues' barrier-free elevators.

　　Yan Jiarong, spokesperson of the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee, introduced that in terms of information accessibility, the official website of the Beijing Winter Paralympics adopted an accessibility model during the competition, using technical means to inject effective information into the website in the form of document marks. The screen-reading software can receive the information on the web page during the competition through audio, so that the visually impaired can browse the Winter Paralympic Games website.

　　"In all competition venues and non-competition venues, 297 blind lanes have been designed and constructed since the beginning of construction. In the Winter Paralympic Village, as long as there are roads, there are blind lanes." Yang Jinkui added.

　　Encourage disabled friends to participate in ice and snow sports

　　Not only during the service competition, but also a longer-term and sustainable plan for the construction of a barrier-free environment in Beijing.

　　During the Beijing Winter Paralympics, the "Ice Cube", which was responsible for the wheelchair curling competition, was a "Double Olympic Venue".

Yang Qiyong, deputy director of logistics of the venue operation team of the National Aquatics Center, revealed that the "Ice Cube" curling venue will be maintained at least until mid-to-late May, during which curling experience and tourist visits will be open to the public; the mass ice rink in the South Square will be open on May It will be open to the public at the beginning of the month and will continue to operate. This winter, the restoration of the "Ice Cube" curling venue will mainly depend on the competitions it undertakes.

　　Yang Qiyong introduced that during the ice-water conversion process, the number of barrier-free seats in the "Ice Cube" increased from more than 30 to more than 50, barrier-free passages were generally widened, and automatic control devices were added to permanent barrier-free facilities, which will continue after the game. for public use.

There is also a unique barrier-free locker room composed of containers. "So much is needed during the game, and it will be moved to the ice rink in the future to provide rest space for outdoor sports people."

　　"In the past, when the 'Water Cube' was normally open, I could see people in wheelchairs coming here to travel and experience almost every day. There are about two swimming or diving competitions every year, and these barrier-free seats are full every time. The utilization rate of these barrier-free facilities is still very high." Yang Qiyong welcomes everyone to experience water and ice sports. "In the future, if there are disabled people who are willing to participate in wheelchair curling, they can come and sign up, and we will participate in them for them. The sport creates the conditions."

　　"China promises to drive 300 million people to participate in ice and snow, and disabled people are no exception. They should also participate in ice and snow sports." Yang Jinkui said bluntly that the biggest legacy of the Beijing Winter Paralympics in the future should be to inspire the majority of disabled friends to be willing to engage in ice and snow sports.

"There are still 27 million deaf people and more than 9 million people with intellectual disabilities in China, who are also eager to participate in ice and snow sports."