The virtual wallet – A life-changer for the visually-impaired

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Mobile payment has taken China by storm. Over the past five years, abandoning cash in exchange for a virtual wallet has become so popular that the country is now leading the world in terms of users and transaction volume. At the same time, the digital cash revolution has brought with it an unexpected yet positive effect – the emancipation of China's visually-impaired.

Zhang Rigan is a visually-impaired young man living in Suzhou. He works for a travel agency for the blind, where his everyday duties involve communicating with tour groups, planning activities and booking tours – all done via his smartphone.

Zhang has always striven to lead as normal a life as possible, often to the consternation of others. "A lot of people are curious and ask: 'Hey, you're blind. So, why travel?'" he says. "When we travel, maybe we can't experience 100 percent what others do. But 60-70 percent, we can still manage… In truth, we visually-impaired are just a regular group of people."

Armed with his smartphone, Zhang is able to do even more of the things "regular" people can.

Zhang Rigan works via his smartphone. /CGTN Photo

Zhang first became aware of the potential of smartphones in 2013, when he used one to order some clothes online. Shopping for clothes in a store used to be a very embarrassing experience, as he would need help from the sales staff to find the size and color he wanted. But now, thanks to the screen reading option on his phone, he can complete a purchase independently, from his own home.

That being said, he still finds technological glitches that need to be ironed out. Some apps don't offer a read-aloud function that would help Zhang to locate buttons such as "purchase", "send message" or "enter information here."

"Not every app is readable," he says. "App developers need to program the codes supporting voice-over function; otherwise, it often won't be recognized."

For many tech companies, there simply isn't any commercial incentive for tailoring products to the needs of the visually-impaired. As Zhang points out, even though there are around 18 million visually-impaired people in the country, in the grand scheme of things, in China this is still considered a niche market.

With his smartphone, Zhang Rigan is able to commute alone. /CGTN Photo

However, some app developers are receptive to the needs of the visually-impaired. One of them is mobile payment giant, Alipay. In response to complaints that its app didn't read very well, Alipay contacted Zhang. "And we've been giving them regular feedback," he says. "So now we can get the information we need from the app."

Fanny Wu, a spokesperson for Ant Financial, which runs Alipay, admits that the visually-impaired are not a top priority from a business standpoint.

"For sure, this is not a big group," she says. "Business-wise, perhaps it won't make us any profit. But for us, solving the pain points of our users is always a priority. Our vision is to bring equal opportunity to the world, so we believe that we are here to help people to achieve more services that they are entitled to, and wherever there's the need, we will try our best to meet it."

Rediscovering China is a 30-minute feature programme offering in-depth reports on the major issues facing China today. It airs on Sunday at 10.30 a.m. BJT (02.30 GMT), with a rebroadcast at 11.30 p.m. (15.30 GMT), as well as on Monday at 8.30 a.m. (00.30 GMT) and Friday at 1.30 p.m. (05.30 GMT).