Zhang Xin: Giving hope to the disabled one step at a time #Adversity can often be a great teacher, allowing one to transcend their limitations and make a real difference. And adversity is where Zhang Xin’s journey began. He lost the lower part of his right leg in a traffic accident when he was just 6. “I was so little that I didn’t know what really happened. I only knew I wasn’t able to run or jump like before,” he recalls. However, as he grew up, Zhang decided that he wouldn’t let his physical limitations define him. With the help of a prosthetic leg, he continued to strive. He studied hard and majored in business management. However, when it came to choosing a career, he followed his calling. Today, Zhang works as a #prosthetic technician at a hospital in Changchun city, northeast China’s Jilin Province. Every day, Zhang works with gypsum and silicone. His workshop is often filled with a pungent smell. On the surface, his daily tasks involve mixing water with gypsum powder, stirring it and pouring it into a mould to create prosthetics to fit patients. Every step needs to be carefully calibrated. Even a minor issue with the prosthetic can lead to serious problems for the patient. Imagine the pain of an ill-fitting pair of shoes; now consider what it would feel like if it was an ill-fitted #artificial leg. However, the job is much more than that routine. The most challenging part is communicating with patients who are struggling to comprehend their lives after having lost a limb – an experience that Zhang is very familiar with. “I know how much pain one goes through after losing a leg. It is fairly incomprehensible for a healthy person. So I can communicate with my patients more quickly and more precisely,” he says. In Zhang’s hospital, every technician makes 10 artificial limbs every month. But there are a lot of disabled people in the province who don’t have access to them. In fact, according to estimates, there are around 834,600 disabled people in Jilin, who require assistive devices, including prosthetics. According to some statistics, by the end of October, 3306 poor #disabled people in the province were in need of artificial limbs. But only 380 of them could avail of them through the national aid project.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Dec 2014 13:12:29 +0000
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