Volunteers in vests help visually impaired people take a stroll in Shanghai.  

As a person born with impaired eyesight, Cai Dongyue is usually homebound as he has to rely on the help of friends and family members to go outside.

Over the past year, the 26-year-old from Pudong district, Shanghai, has spent far more time outside thanks to a volunteer service launched by the Disabled Persons' Federation in Pudong New Area in December 2017.

The service allows the blind and visually impaired to make a call with volunteers through an app called Pudong Sunshine World. Working like an online car-hailing app, the service enables users to order volunteer help through the app, reserving a time and location.

Volunteers can accept the order and help users. Cai said orders should normally be placed around one or two days ahead.

"For the blind and visually impaired people like me, visual assistance from a person for walking is most desirable, as humans can react to rapidly changing environments in public places and to my requests much quicker than assistive devices," Cai said. "The app has allowed me more access to assistance than merely relying on that of my friends and family."

Yao Huiqian, deputy researcher at the new area federation, said the app is the only official online platform designed to meet the daily demands of people with sight disability in Shanghai.

Over 200 people with visual disabilities have registered for the service, and the platform has received 950 orders since December 2017. The project was recognized as the top voluntary project in Pudong New Area in 2018.

"I am grateful for the convenience the service brings to my life," Cai said.

The Shanghai Disabled Person's Federation said last year that about 93,160 visually impaired people live in Shanghai - 19,250 of them in Pudong New Area.

"Most people may be curious as to why they rarely see blind or visually impaired people in public places," Cai said. "It's because most public accessibility facilities lack maintenance, or because we are somehow afraid of being exposed to the dangers outside."

Research by the Pudong New Area Disabled People's Federation shows that over 85 percent of visually impaired people consider walking outside their major worry, as a number of sidewalks designed for them are not built to city standards, and some people park on the sidewalks or pile things on special paths.

People with visual disabilities also said they were scared about taking buses or subway trains and crossing roads, and most of those surveyed said they needed companions when doing those things.

"Some people recommend guide dogs, but raising a dog will cost a fortune and take lots of care," Cai said.

Xia Yanping, a volunteer with the service, said: "I tried to feel what the blind feel by covering my eyes with a cloth for a while, after offering service to some low-vision people. In fact, I cannot even take the first step in the darkness. It's terribly frightening and hopeless, and that's why the blind would rather 'lock' themselves at home.

"They need sighted people to guide them to touch the beauty of the world through real communication, or just to help them meet their basic needs, such as going shopping and getting medical treatment."

On the app, over 1,000 volunteers, including university students and retirees, have registered to provide service in their spare time in Pudong New Area.

To guarantee users' safety, volunteers go through a fairly strict screening process and get trained at schools for the blind before starting the work. The app also records the route of every order and users can comment on the service quality.

"We hope to extend the service to help all disabled people in Pudong New Area in the near future, and we may promote the idea to the whole city or the nation if everything works well," Yao said.

Shen Liang, director of the Pudong Sunshine World service center, said the main challenge is to perfectly match the location and availability of volunteers with the requests of the disabled.

"For instance, most volunteers are free on weekends, but weekday orders are also in keen demand," Shen said. "Also, we need more volunteers around the Lujiazui area."

Yao said the government also needed to improve basic infrastructure construction and related legislation to protect people with disabilities.

"We expect more people to join our team to care for the disabled," he said.