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Lenovo helps the disabled enjoy the games

By Dan Na (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-09-13 10:49

After the rousing success of the Beijing Olympic Games, the 2008 Paralympic Games kicked off with another remarkable opening ceremony at the Bird's Nest on September 6 - and as before computer-maker Lenovo was there to help.

As a Worldwide Partner of the International Olympic Committee and a partner of the 13th Paralympic Games in Beijing, Lenovo is dedicated to helping the disabled to lead a better life.

On September 12, the company invited five blind people to enjoy athletic competitions by listening to the narration of volunteers from Lenovo at the National Stadium, better known as the Bird's Nest.

Four of the blind fans came from the Beijing Hongdandan Education and Culture Exchange Center. The other works as a masseuse.

"I have a dream to attend games in Beijing. Today my dream came true. I am very excited," said the masseuse from Xi'an.

Hongdandan is one of the five charity organizations supported by Lenovo as part of its corporate social responsibility initiatives with financial aids totaling 3 million yuan.

Lenovo designed an audio data system for Hongdandan, which helps the blind to enjoy films by listening over the Internet.

Established in July 2004, Hongdandan began to bring films to the blind through its Mind's Eye Theater. A traditional courtyard house in the Zhonggulou area of Beijing is home to the blind residents and is home to the theater.

The narrator for the movies is named Wang Weili in his forties, who over the past three years conceived and operated this mini-theater for the blind.

The Mind's Eye shows one movie a week and to date has shown over 100 films to more than 4,000 blind moviegoers.

As a partner and the exclusive computing equipment provider of the 2008 Paralympic Games, Lenovo continues its effort to ensure "two Olympics, equally magnificent" following its successful technology support for the Summer Olympic Games with 30,000 pieces of computing equipment and a 600-member engineer team.

To help spread the Chinese culture, Lenovo also arranged activities for other people with disabilities.

To mark National Teachers' Day, and as part of its efforts for the Paralympic Games, volunteers from the computer maker taught foreign coaches, trainers and athletes Chinese language and culture on September 10.

Held in a Lenovo Internet lounge at the Paralympic Village in Beijing, the event included a brief introduction to Confucius and distributed a book on his Analects in both Chinese and English.

The furnishings for the event included a hanging scroll from the Beijing Confucius Temple and a guest book designed like a thread-bound Chinese book.

Long, narrow antique tables were used for practicing Chinese calligraphy, on which the "four treasures" of Chinese calligraphy were placed - the traditional brush, paper, ink and ink-stone, as well as mahogany paperweights and rosewood brush holders.

In addition to cultural events, Lenovo is providing 240 computers in seven Internet lounges with barrier-free designs at the Paralympic villages in Beijing, Qingdao and Hong Kong as well as at the main press center.

The exclusive computer provider to the Paralympic Games also supplied Braille printers, special keyboards and barrier-free information terminals with text-to-voice technology that reads out words from computer monitors.

Workstations also have the capacity to print conventional Web pages in Braille, adding to the comprehensive design that allows blind athletes to surf on the Internet, check emails and chat with relatives and friends.

Technicians and other staff from Lenovo have also been trained with professional skills to assist the disabled, including the use of Braille cards to communicate.