Where Respect is Derived: An Interview to Beijing Hong Dandan Edu-Culture Communication
Long depressed in the dark of social discrimination, the handicapped people are so vulnerable to cold eyes and scorns, so feared to lose dignity, so curled up to fend off injustice that they forget how to open their hearts to the world that has already opened its arms. Blind pursuit of respect, as is the problem for many blind, has distorted them. As the solution, we need to show them our care, and enlighten them how to gain respect, not to beg or to defy.
As usual, the cinema—branded “Eyes of Heart”—was crowded with old patrons and new faces on Saturday morning. Besides the blind friends from inside central Beijing, journalists from all fields of media joined the party-like movie lecture. Leading media companies, such as CCTV and Sohu.com among others, wrenched the small quadrate yard into spotlight and flashguns. The lecture was hosted by a renowned CCTV compere who had professed to serve as a volunteer, but was still surrounded by fans begging for a signature.
Over the past two years, the cinema has been seeing people in and off every weekend just as it did that day. Later on to the mid-noon when the crowd was dismissed, the cinema was back into tranquility with its staff’s bewildered thoughts.
Not until then could Wang Weili and Zheng Xiaojie, the couple responsible for Beijing Hong Dandan Edu-Culture Communication Centre (shorter as Hong Dandan), afford the time for interview. Deeply rooted in my mind was the meet with Ms. Zheng during the 2 year anniversary of the cinema when I could have offered a hand to the blind who needed help in walking but out of selfishness and timidity I didn’t. The sour remorse doubled my respect for the couple and pushed me to ask my first question: How should an NPO worker treat the weak from the individual-to-individual sense?
“Love and care” was the reply. Yes, the overused cliché rings hollow to some, but to them, it compacts the deepest meaning into one simple phrase—yet how? How could the phrase spearhead the voluntary acts into concord? Simple as it may sound, practicing it is another thing. “There must be a proper manner in practice. The “look-down-on-you” manner, which means treating the weak like children, and lashing out too much care and protection, may lead to reliance or resistance among them,” explained Mr. Wang, “while the “look-up-to-you” attitude that sees ever bit of their progress as a great achievement puts us in the wrong place. Equality is the key.”
Attitude is the first lesson that a volunteer should learn. Undeniably, differences exsist among people. Just as illustrated by Mr. Wang, it is no use turning a blind eye to the differences between healthy and handicapped people. The courage to face the differences is the first step to reduce them.
However, just because the volunteers have set straight their attitude doesn’t mean their relationship with the helped is sure to be favorably addressed. How to help the blind “face themselves”, for example, is a challenge Hong Dandan has to come up against.
Some of the handicapped are averse to admit the disadvantages compared with healthy people, and even revolted by the term “the weak” that is conventionally used to describe them. They believe that they can do whatever healthy people can. Worse than that is the inferiority complex deep down inside their hearts that forces them not to face the reality. As to this problem, Ms Zheng said, “the blind people may not realize that Hong Dandan has its own institution that can not be changed to cater to a certain individual. For example, when they are trained here, they are not given special treatment just because they lost sight. By sticking to our institution and principles, we try to nurture healthy mentality in the blind people.”
But it bears no fruit to lay all the responsibility upon one organization in guiding the handicapped. Then how could an individual help heal the rift between the healthy and the handicapped?
Mutual respect is the footstone of any rapport. But the connotation of “respect” brings out two sides of a coin—dignity and vanity. For any individual, including the handicapped, it has to be recognized that too much competition spirit would erode dignity into vanity.
In the opera “the blind” co-produced by Hong Dandan and Director Lin Zhaohua, the life of the human race was visualized with that of the blind. It showed concerns for the present and future of humans and more significantly, cares for the blind. However, even such a humanitarian production could invite suspicion of “discriminating the blind”.
Long depressed in the dark of social discrimination, the handicapped people are so vulnerable to cold eyes and scorns, so feared to lose dignity, so curled up to fend off injustice that they forget how to open their hearts to the world that has already opened its arms. Blind pursuit of respect, as is the problem for many blind, has distorted them. As the solution, we need to show them our care, and enlighten them how to gain respect, not to beg or to defy.
So rises the question—has the mass media fulfilled its obligation of educating the handicapped what is respect, and what is dignity? Regrettably no. And that’s why Mr. Wang, a frequent guest at CCTV interview, is still keen on joining in-depth TV talk shows. Diverting the society’s focus to the mentality of special groups may look like a grand vision to an outsider, yet just a basic attitude to an NPO professional.
In a world that information spreads faster and broader than ever before, that a compliment can be easily misinterpreted to a condemnation, that entertainment prevails over enlightenment, do we have the calm to ponder what to do for the blind? That’s a question to be considered for NPOs and especially for the mass media.
Many NPOs are on good terms with people they help, but still many others fail to cope with such relationship. Sometimes their zealous help upsets the helped. All assistance, be it physical or mental, should be built on respect. Giving no account to the feelings of the helped is itself a sign of disrespect, which could be put down to ineffective or even negative communication.
Respect is derived from communication; after all, humans are social animals.
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