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Dear Readers,
We are now living in the information age. For millions of people across
the world, access to information has never been so convenvient or so important
to their lives. At the click of a mouse one can find the latest news from
Kenya, the state of the weather in Bolivia, the price of fish in Alaska
or the results of the Beijing wheelchair basketball tournament. Information
reaches the most remote rural communities via radio, TV, the internet
or satellite phone. People no longer have to remain isolated by distance
or geography.
Yet despite this information revolution, many individuals and communities
around the world do in fact remain isolated and under-informed. Today,
poverty is not just a lack of material wealth. It often means insufficient
access to the basic information which can change a person’s life. As an
old saying goes, “Give a man a fish and you can feed him for a day. Give
a man a fishing-rod and he will feed himself for a lifetime”. Visualy
impaired people in many parts of the world suffer from a lack of access
to information. Living in fast changing communities, the traditional means
of support have often broken down, yet new structures and new ways of
life are often slow to emerge. In Britain, which is my home, disabled
people have struggled hard over many decades to gain equal rights in access
to information. This process is still underway and while the structures
and technology are now in place, it still takes time for people to learn
how to use them.
I believe very strongly that each of us is an expert in our own field.
For example, a blind person is an expert in the art of being blind, a
deaf person in the art of being deaf. Similarly, a blind person in China
understands the realities of his or her life better than anyone else.
However, to make sense of one’s life and find solutions to problems, it
often helps to hear the experiences of other people in other parts of
the world. Learning of the lives ofblind people in Europe, America, India
or Africa, we can often find inspiration, as well as practical solutions
to our own problems.
I represent a small British charity called China Vision, which was set
up in 1999 in London by a group of friends who are concerned about the
lives of visually impaired people in China. Our main purpose is to
assist visually impaired people to improve their own lives by increasing
the flow of information and building friendship between people. So far
we have supported training projects in China, provided braile books and
invited blind Chinese teachers to visit the UK.
In 2007 one of the members of China Vision, Ellen Bassani (who is herself
blind) came to China to train a group of young blind students. After talking
to teachers from special schools, she discovered a serious lack of access
to information about special education abroad. She at once decided to
make a personal donation to help set up an online magazine. This publication,
Ta Lang, has mainly been the result of her inspiration and the hard work
of your editor Chun Ya.
I would like to pay special tribute to Chun Ya for his dedicatio and perceptiveness.
As a blind teacher, Chun Ya has a profound knowedge of the needs of readers,
both teachers in special schools and other visually impaired people in
China. China Vision is very pleased to be able to support this project
and we wish Chun Ya and his colleagues the very best in their endeavours.
Wishing all readers a happy and prosperous Year of the Rat.
Happy reading – and may you find all the information you need!
Stephen Hallett
Chairperson, China Vision
亲爱的读者：
我们生活在信息时代。对世界上成千上万的人们来说，获取信息变的前所未有的方便且重要了。轻轻点激鼠标，人们就可以找到来自肯尼亚的最新消息，玻利维亚的天气状
况，阿拉斯加鱼的价格，或者在北京举 行的轮椅篮球赛的结果。通过广播、电视、互连网和卫星电话，信息可以覆盖到最偏僻的乡村，人们也不用在忍受因为距离和地域环境造成的孤独了。
但是，尽管信息革命的大潮浩浩荡荡，世界上仍有许多人和地区仍处于信息的盲
区。今天，贫穷不仅意味着生活材料的匮乏，而且也经常会导致人们不能获得可以改变个人生活的基本信息。“授人予鱼不如授人予网”在世界上的不少地方，视障人仍旧不能获取足够的信息。在迅速发展的社区里，传统的帮扶观念已经不能满足需要，但是新的帮扶结构和生活方式又总是滞后于人们的希望。在我的家乡英国，残障人一直都在努力争取获取信息的平等权利。这一努力仍在继续，虽然有了可行的社会体系和技术，但是人们还要花时间学习如何使用那些技术。
我坚信，我们每个人在自己的领域内都是专家。比如，盲人熟悉盲人的生活、工作技能，聋哑人也可以通过自己独特的方式顺利的生活和工作。同样，中国的盲人比其他人更了解自己的生活现实。但是，想要使一个人生活的有意义并找到解决问题的途径，经常听听世界上其他地区人们的经验是会有帮助的。了解并学习欧洲、美国、印度或者非洲盲人的生活，可以让我们发现灵感并且找到解决我们自身问题的实际办法。
1999年，我和其他几个同样关心中国视障人生活的朋友一起在伦敦成立了China Vision （英华视障人教育基金会）。这是一个在英国注册的小慈善机构。我们的目的是通过加强信息交流帮助视障人改善生活，并促进人们之间的友谊。到目前为止，我们支持了在中国的几个视障人培训项目，向盲人朋友提供盲文读物，还邀请中国的盲人教师访问英国。
2007年，China Vision的盲人会员Ellen Bassani来到中国，帮助培训一些年轻的盲人学生。在与陪同学生参加培训的盲校教师交谈后她发现教师们渴望得到更多的国外的盲人教育资讯。于是，她立刻决定个人资助建立一个网上杂志。《踏浪》的出版就是她这个决定的结果，当然也离不开编辑春鸭的辛勤工作。
我非常愿意为春鸭的工作提供尽可能的支持。作为盲人教师，春鸭了解盲校教师以及其他盲人读者的需要。China Vision非常高兴支持这个项目，我们希望春鸭和他的伙伴们能够把这个杂志越做越好。
祝大家鼠年快乐，一切如意。希望大家阅读愉快，并喜欢杂志的内容。
Stephen Hallett （郝曦）
China Vision 主席
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