BLIND CHILDREN READING ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
Project Introduction
Creating international standard audio books for visually impaired children, fostering reading habits.
The Blind Children Reading Assistance Program is the main initiative of the Xinmu Library (established by the Xinmu Foundation), sponsored by the China Charities Aid Foundation for Children and implemented by the Beijing HongDanDan Visually Impaired Service Center (predecessor of the Xinmu Foundation). The project aims to provide visually impaired students with excellent extracurricular reading materials, increasing their accessible resources and enhancing their reading abilities and skills.
Due to visual impairments, blind students face challenges in reading with their eyes, and their access to books is significantly limited compared to sighted children. One can liken their situation to a desert amidst a sea of books. They urgently need access to high-quality extracurricular audio reading materials.
China has over 17 million visually impaired individuals, but there is only one government-run specialized library for the blind. Unfortunately, most of the Braille books in this sole library are from the 1980s, and new books are scarce. Access to audio books, especially those specifically tailored for blind readers, is even rarer.
On January 29, 2011, after evaluation and approval by the Chinese Library Society, Hong Dandan officially established the first private library for the blind – Heart Vision Library. The library has initially formed a technical team consisting of staff and core volunteers.
Since 2014, Microsoft has supported Hong Dandan in establishing the online ‘Xinmu Library,’ allowing all visually impaired users to access audio reading resources anytime through mobile devices. Later, a ‘Xinmu Library’ mini-program was developed, integrating cultural products from ‘Xinmu Library’ and ‘Xinmu Cinema’, along with Microsoft’s donation of the largest public domain children’s audio book collection in China, ‘Little Bing Sister Storytelling.’ Currently, HongDanDan’s website, WeChat mini-program, and other online reading platforms have served over 400,000 people.
In 2019, Microsoft provided advanced Neural Voice technology to HongDanDan, enabling the customization of pronunciation standards and emotionally rich artificial intelligence voices for visually impaired friends. This helped HongDanDan quickly and efficiently transform electronic books into audio materials that are more human-like and emotionally warm, significantly improving the limited and often mechanical audio environments for visually impaired individuals. It aids them in better perceiving the world.
From 2016 to 2020, we produced a total of 12,096.3 hours of international standard DAISY audiobooks, created 20 issues of the ‘Xinmu’ magazine for blind children, and organized 5 summer (winter) reading camps.
Beneficiary feedback
Feedback from visually impaired student Shan Hao from Siping Blind School who participated in the 2020 National Blind Students’ Online Summer Camp – Reflection on the Botanical Garden at the World Expo Park:
“The appearance of the botanical garden touched me the most. It made me think of the treasure chamber in ‘Alice in Wonderland’. Through the careful explanation of the guide, I learned about a story related to the mangrove forest. The inspiration for the creation also came from the hanging roots of the mangrove forest.
Volunteer Feedback on the Project
The world of blind people and sighted people is completely different. In the same scenario, the information accessed by both parties is unequal. In situations of information loss and lack of communication, misunderstandings are easy to arise. I feel honored to contribute to spreading botanical knowledge to blind students nationwide through visual narration.