Author: Mingming Jia
“Personally, I don’t like being referred to as a ‘master’.”
“Master” is a common appellation for masseurs in China, yet Xiao Ao refuses to conform. Instead, he prefers to be called a therapist. But unlike therapists in a conventional sense, Xiao has been living in the dark for his whole life.
The 26-year-old was born with congenital blindness. Just like many visually-deprived compatriots, he entered the message industry after graduating from secondary school. It wasn’t long before he decided to rent his own parlor: Working for clinics is too much of a blandness, according to Xiao Ao.
The store was opened in the spring of 2020. Then quarantine started. Xiao says there were no profits earned since few customers visited. But Xiao was not the only masseur struck hard by the lockdown. During the spring quarantine, 82% of all massage parlors were short of funds while 58% were undermanned. 65% of massage workers expressed an urgent need to re-open (Workers Daily, 2020). Many visually impaired found themselves stuck at home, losing track of time.
Despite the huge blow quarantine had on the market, Xiao has his own observation. He says the price of massage had been driven down significantly by price wars, which in turn undermine the value and skills of those visually impaired. Having spent 5 years in college and 3 years in secondary school, Xiao doesn’t want to comply with the preexisting rules in the market.
“Few customers visit my parlor for their first try cause we charge a higher price for each message. But we’re also better at our job. We weren’t planning on starting easy anyway.”
Still, Xiao envisions expanding his business beyond the little parlor he currently has. In fact, he is already quite familiar with venturing out of his comfort zone. Xiao spent his childhood in Suzhou until he left for Nanjing to receive massage training at the age of 19. Growing up in Suzhou, he recalls playing with able-bodied peers without the concerns of being alienated. To this day, he still hangs out with those able-bodied. Whether to assimilate into communities, he says, is eventually determined by the mindset of the visually impaired.
But a positive mind is not the sole reason Xiao is able to stay active. He also possesses an active body.
Xiao encountered goal-ball 11 years ago when he was still studying at Suzhou. Out of the love for competitive sports and a yearn for trying out new things, he started regular training. Now a member of the provincial team, Xiao is preparing himself for the National Games for the Disabled.
Goal-ball is the most popular team sport for the blind and visually impaired. In goal-ball, two teams of three players each face each other across a court that is nine meters wide and 18 meters long. The object of the game is to roll a ball with bells inside over the opponent’s goal line. Your opponents listen for the oncoming ball and attempt to block it with their bodies. Once they are able to stop the ball and take control of it, they become the offensive team (USABA, 2021).
Training has never been easy, says Xiao. Few training fields are provided, especially during the pandemic. In times of preparation for a major game, training takes place 6 days a week. Athletes are often hit or bumped by the basket size ball since athletes can only determine the location of the oncoming ball by hearing. But Xiao says the obstacles have never undermined his fervor for the sport.
For Xiao, his 11-year experience in the fields has brought him more than a fit body. To attend various tournaments, he had to travel to provinces countrywide. The ventures enriched his experience much, Xiao says. While other masseurs resembling Xiao have to run around between different provinces to find proper jobs, Xiao visits provinces as an athlete. Attending goal-ball tournaments provided sufficient startup capital to open his delicately furnished parlor in which he keeps all the medals earned in tournaments. The love for sports has also allowed Xiao to relate to his customers with the same passion.
Although Xiao takes an active role in sports, the popularization of adaptive sports still has a long way to go. In a 2021 report conducted by China’s Disabled Person’s Federation, 17.8% among all the disabled participated in community sports activities (CDPF, 2021), compared to 53.2% in Australia (Simon, Daniel, & Tracy, 2016) For one thing, adaptive sports fields are usually in isolated areas unreachable by navigations, thus few of those visually impaired prefer to step outside. For another, the general public often misperceives adaptive sports. Because athletes are unable to use part of the functions of their bodies, people associate training with pains and discomforts. Due to this common misperception, the development of adaptive sports is often hindered in China.
For many visually-impaired message workers in China other than Xiao, the wish to become friends with their able-bodied customers remains extravagant. Physical impairments deter them from engaging in society. Many masseurs never leave their parlors because they fear nobody is willing to help. “People would point certain directions when we ask for help. And we’d have to ask them to describe the direction they’re pointing at again. I once arrived at the train station an hour early yet still I missed the train because I lost my directions. It was frustrating,” Says Haohao, a visually-deprived masseuse.
Among over 17 million visually-impaired people in China, Xiao is one of the few who have an active mind and an active body. He doesn’t anticipate becoming a social advocate, but he suggests that people with disabilities should step out of their comfort zone on their initiatives. In the short run, access to more available fields—and popularization programs—would help to soothe disabled people’s fear of integrating into society. On a larger scale, more diverse career options can better equip visually-impaired people to navigate society.
As for the future, Xiao plans to settle and focus on his business. It’s hard to balance the time between his career and training, he says, but he will give up neither.
References
[1] 杨兆敏, 新冠疫情对盲人按摩业影响显著 从业者复工需求迫切, 工人日报，2020.3.18
[2] United States Association of Blind Athletes. (2021). Goalball. Retrieved from https://www.usaba.org/sports/goalball/
[3] 中国残疾人联合会. (2021.4.9). 2020年残疾人事业发展统计公报. Retrieved from https://www.cdpf.org.cn/zwgk/zccx/tjgb/d4baf2be2102461e96259fdf13852841.htm[4] Simon.D, Daniel.J.L, & Tracy.T.(2016.5). Enabling Inclusive Sport Participation: Effects of Disability and Support Needs on Constraints to Sport Participation. Leisure Sciences 39(1), 1-21. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303359235_Enabling_Inclusive_Sport_Participation_Effects_of_Disability_and_Support_Needs_on_Constraints_to_Sport_Participation