¡°The Thousand-hand Kwanyin? a dance performed by 21 deaf and mute women, won unanimous applause at this year¡¯s Spring Festival Gala on TV. It was later voted the best performance by viewers. I believe this award was granted not out of the audience¡¯s sympathy for the disabled performers but as a true compliment and sign of respect for them. Our eyes were caught and our hearts deeply touched when the vivid thousand-hand Kwanyin appeared before us with each beautiful move of their fingers and bodies. What a marvellous scene they made!

However, it was even more stunning for me to see an interview with the leading dancer. She smiled like an angel, and I suddenly realized she was not completely silent when she opened her mouth and tried to answer the questions. Apart from sign language, she kept struggling to express herself with her voice, though brokenly and unclearly.

This is another good example of the success of disabled people. There is no doubt that people would usually feel sorry for such a beautiful girl losing her hearing and therefore being seriously disadvantaged in this world. But a famous disabled writer in China, Shi Tiesheng, has a different view on the matter.

¡°Disability, which doesn¡¯t make a fundamental difference between the healthy and the disabled people from the perspective of philosophy, is just one kind of limitations on human beings similar to any other reflection of human imperfection,?he wrote in one of his books. It is this refreshing definition that has fundamentally changed my view of disability.

I remember in a fairy tale, a depressed boy with a disability was cheered up by a wise man, who said that every human being is just like an apple with one bite from God. We are all born imperfectly, just as there is no whole apple after this bite from God. And those with big bites must be preferred by God due to their unique aromas and tastes. Disability could be a good bite, so are the other limitations we may have. We will absolutely gain more than disappointment and complaints if we re-examine our shortcomings, limitations and inabilities according to the philosophy in this story.

We will also learn much more from the success of disabled people if we reconsider it by viewing their disability in the same as our own inabilities in various respects. As seen from the dance mentioned above, the silent world has given the deaf-mute performers more acute ears, which enable them to listen with their hearts, otherwise by no means could they give such an impressive performance. Also, we, whether healthy or disabled, will embrace new successes by accepting and overcoming our limitations.

On the other hand, a change of view on the philosophical implication of disability would profoundly improve the rights of disabled people in our society. Disability is not an inevitable consequence of impairment, but rather the discrimination that people with impairments encounter in society, created by physical, environmental and attitudinal barriers which exclude disabled people from full participation. If the public are more aware of the resemblance between disability and their own limitations, they will probably view and treat the disabled more equally.

Let us cherish this bite from God!