Three sisters in rural southwest China diagnosed with brittle bone disease are defying disability stereotypes and overcoming pain and hardship.
The Chinese siblings, Peng Yan, 31, Peng Jiangqiu, 28, and Peng Jiangdan, 25, from Yunyang County, Chongqing Municipality, have amassed nearly 310,000 followers on a popular live-streaming platform Kuaishou, and created a living for themselves by sharing their daily lives online.
The siblings display a snack they have for sale during a live-stream video. /VCG Photo
Brittle bone disease, or Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI), leaves their bones highly susceptible to fractures. Aside from their fragile bones, it also prevents them from walking on their own.
For the older siblings, the pain of a fresh fracture – they each suffer an average of one or two a month – can be intense.
They are cared for by their 57-year-old father, Peng Boxiang, a former construction worker who retired 16 years ago after an injury on site. /VCG Photo
However, they remain resilient about their lives, Chongqing Evening News reported.
They might not be able to attend school, but they've proved anything is possible.
The sisters spend roughly six hours a day live-streaming themselves, telling stories, singing songs for their followers and selling snacks online. They managed to learn how to read by watching television.
A typical day at work in front of the camera for the three women. /VCG Photo
On Kuaishou, their channel is upbeat, as videos show they would occasionally poke fun at their situation.
"Although we are disabled and haven't gone to school, our hearts and souls are whole and healthy," the introduction of their channel reads.
Thanks to the success of their live-streams, they earn about 100 yuan a day, and have diversified their income sources and discovered more opportunities to connect with others.
In China, there were over 17 million estimated cases of brittle bone disease in 2014, according to Chinese media reports that year. /VCG Photo
Before they started live-streaming, they used to only make ends meet on a government-issued disability allowance, which was about 2,000 yuan (290 US dollars) a month for the three sisters combined, according to Chongqing Evening News.