Screen-reading applications bring light to visually impaired

The only way for Cao Jun to find a place to eat is by smell - if he senses spice, it's likely to be a Sichuan restaurant.

The 41-year-old has been blind since birth. For a decade, he stumbled through life working as a blind massage therapist, fearing things normal people take for granted.

"I used to be afraid of taking a taxi. The driver might incorrectly drop me off in a place he does not know," he said.

Still, he was one of Beijing's more successful therapists, eventually opening his own chain.

"Sometimes I would borrow my client's cellphone just to feel it, wondering when blind people will be able to use smart devices," Cao said.

Pursuing the chance to change lives through technology, Cao taught himself how to use a computer in 2000 and started a business developing screen-reading applications eight years later.

Starting with a group of ten, Cao launched the Protection and Ease Company to create mobile applications and computer softwares tailored to visually impaired people.

Their applications transform contents on the screen into audio instructions and enable visually impaired people to use GPS, online meal ordering, and wechat, China's mobile messaging platform, almost everything that able-bodied people enjoy in the Internet Age.

So far, it has more than 400,000 users and 40 staff, half of whom are visually impaired, in Beijing's central business district.

The switch from a massage therapist to a software engineer was not smooth. He invested more than 200,000 yuan (about 32,000 U.S. dollars) and sold his newly-bought apartment to fund development.

"What supported me through all the difficulty was the fact I was helping the visually impaired fit into society," said Cao.

China has nearly 13 million people who are visually impaired, according to data released by the China Disabled Persons' Federation. Cao alone helped nearly a half million of them revolutionize their lives.

"Transportation applications have made my life much easier," said Liu Yingya, who is visually impaired. "and I can work on computer now."

Through listening software, visually impaired people can open online stores, produce and edit music and invest in stocks. Some even find their soulmates.

"Visually impaired people can live more independently," said Zhao Liping, director of civil rights department at Beijing Disabled Persons' Federation, "This is going to be the future for them."

Though Protection and Ease Company usually breaks even, it accounts for nearly 90 percent of the market share for applications for the visually impaired.

"I have found a career where I feel valued, and realized my dream of making a difference for people like me," said Cao, "this is the most joyful thing in my life." Endi