About 60,000 people with disabilities in Tibet Autonomous Region have benefited from rehabilitation services such as prosthetic limbs and sign language training in the past five years, according to the regional disabled persons federation.

The region has set up five auxiliary equipment service stations for the disabled since 2003, said Gong Demin, a Tibet Disabled Persons Federation official.

Xerab Dainzin, 21, lost his right leg in a traffic accident last year. He asked for a new leg from the fitting station in the capital Lhasa. The station cooperates with Handicap International (Belgium) - an international organization which helps with rehabilitation for the disabled.

The station prices each artificial limb at 1,700 yuan (247 U.S. dollars) or below - lower than that in other provinces. If a disabled person has financial difficulties, it will offer an artificial limb for free.

"The station has accepted my application and I will be able to have an artificial limb," said the young man. "The artificial limb is the only hope for me to be no longer a burden of my family."

In addition, since 1999, about 40,000 cataract patients in the region have regained sight after operations, mostly for free, thanks to the joint efforts of the regional government and volunteer medical teams. The cataract rate on the Tibetan plateau is double that of other areas in China.

Most of the rehabilitation projects have been jointly carried out by the regional government and charity organizations from both home and abroad. Some of them are free.

To help the deaf and dumb Tibetans, the region has developed the deaf language in Tibetan and started pilot teaching projects. A hand language dictionary in the Tibetan language has been published.

The region aims to help all the disabled in the region with access to rehabilitation services by 2015, according to the Tibet Disabled Persons Federation.

China has a disabled population of 83 million.

(Xinhua News Agency September 10, 2008)