With pastel-colored furnishings, it was a small but cozy massage parlor. Numerous massage chairs are being arranged neatly and several green plants are ornamented around the space. A ray of sunlight filtered through the window to the parlor, giving people a feeling of warmth.
It is hard to tell that this small parlor is owned by a person living in darkness.
Ming was born in 1982. He recalled becoming visually impaired at the age of 22 because his glaucoma was not being timely treated. The unexpected misfortune did not knock Ming down, he stood up by attending a specialized school and decided to take on the path of becoming a masseur.
Blind massage therapist is one of the few career options for the visually impaired. In the absence of visual cues, people with visual impairment are more in tune with the client’s bodily responses to the massage. Similar to other visually impaired people, Ming chose to enter the industry after completing specialized massage training programs and earning her license as a masseuse. With the enlarging industry, the market is becoming more competitive with massage parlors springing up in cities across the whole country. Under difficult conditions with the outbreak of covid-19, Ming still managed to run his parlor in a good way.
This couldn’t be done without the support and help from his wife.
Married at the age of 18, Ming and his wife hadn’t been separated because of his unexpected blindness. She has always been his physical and emotional support. “My wife always encourages and inspires me to become stronger. Without her, I would not overcome the difficulties so easily.” Ming said with a smiley face.
Indeed, he wasn’t always optimistic toward the accident. He encountered a period of depression in the early days of blindness. That time was hard, as vision is a key sensory for basic life skills, interpersonal interactions, and social communication. The sudden changes make him feel helpless. “My wife did not give up on me. She told me to take her as my crutch.” Ming’s wife helped him go through the tortuous period and promised to always be by his side. With the encouragement of his wife, Ming progressively became more determined and discovered his own job path.
In work, there is a clear division of labor between Ming and his wife to make sure efficiency and productivity. While Ming is giving a pedicure to a client, his wife will perform tasks like filling the bucket with water or making the bed ready for the clients while he performs massages. She made every effort to complete tasks that were inconvenient for those who are visually impaired and to remove any barriers for her husband. In their daily lives, they also spend some of their free time dining out at delectable establishments.
Not everyone with visual impairment can have a successful marriage as Ming does. The 45 years old masseuse Shen became visually impaired because of gestational hypertension at the age of 24 and got betrayed and abandoned by his husband afterward. Marriage is a commitment, companionship, and the beginning of a family, yet has been considered a nightmare for many visually impaired people.
How did Ming receive such a successful marriage with long-term caring and committed relationships even after visual impairment? “It can't happen without his own efforts. He is a trustworthy individual.” Ming’s wife explained. Unlike some of the other visually impaired people, Ming is willing to undertake the responsibility of supporting his family. Homes are viewed as the most crucial form of future insurance by Chinese parents. As long as they are capable, Chinese parents will buy a house for their children. This becomes an obligation for them in modern Chinese society. Ming and his wife are both from the working class, yet they toiled long and hard to buy a house for their child.
Not only shouldering family responsibility, Ming is also a person who is willing to carry social responsibilities and has a tight connection with the community surrounding him. With care and support from his beloved wife, Ming does not isolate himself away from society due to his sight loss. On the wall of his massage parlor, it is covered with posters from many other industries including fortune-telling advertisement posters, household management industry recruitment posters… these kinds of promoting do not only happen occasionally, but Ming has also been constantly helping people within his community, especially other workers with visual impairment. He truly hopes that his little help could be useful to make their business grow better. Also, when Ming became visually impaired at first, he only had partial vision loss which means that he could still recognize some shapes and colors. He would assist people who are completely blind when they are shopping. “Helping others actually prove the realization of my own value to society,” Ming insisted.
Despite Ming's high level of social engagement, which is mostly a result of his innately upbeat attitude and the support of his wife, there is still cause for concern given the high occurrence of moderate and severe social isolation among people with visual impairments. Usually, those who are visually impaired have fewer opportunities to develop and practice social skills. Additionally, due to limited prospects and usually low educational levels, people with visual impairment run the danger of low financial income, a lack of leisure activities, a smaller social circle, and unemployment. Due to all these barriers, many blind persons find it difficult to fit in with society as a whole and experience loneliness.
There are 17.31 million people with visual impairment in China accounting for 20.36% of China's total disabled population. Out of them, Ming is the lucky one, because his wife always gives him physical and emotional support while he also carries social responsibility. To improve the current issue of difficulties in social integration for the visual impairment population, the government can provide more job opportunities, build more recreation facilities within their community, and organize more related workshops to help them better adapt to society…
Regardless of living in darkness due to the physical contraint, Ming's world is nevertheless brimming with brightness and warmth due to the aspiring support from his wife and his close ties to the community, and yet he has been the beam of light igniting surroundings through his optimism and exuberance.