Jobs for the disabled

At the Beijing Disabled Persons' Federation Conference, the Beijing municipal government announced that 3,500 jobs would be provided for disabled people and that disabled employment legislation would be formulated. Blind medical massage is targeted to become a permanent presence in community hospitals, the Beijing Daily reported.

Beijing currently has 173 certified blind medical massage therapists. Some are employed by hospitals as contract workers; additional training will be provided to help them become permanent hospital staffers. At the end of last year, the number of employed disabled in Beijing hit 40,000 for the first time.