It was a sweltering August evening, but business was brisk at HandyCup, a pub located on Shanghai’s historic Xinhua Road. As customers trickled in, some ordered craft beers and looked for a seat, while others simply rolled their wheelchairs up to the bar.

HandyCup is Shanghai’s first “accessible pub.” Although China passed new accessibility regulations for public facilities last September, accessible “third spaces” — places outside the home or workplace — remain few in number. Even high-profile experiments like Shanghai’s Hinichijou Café, which employs deaf baristas, still largely play into stereotypes of the Deaf community as service workers rather than fully rounded individuals.

In contrast, emerging accessible third spaces like HandyCup, which opened in May, have been more explicit in their attempts to break down barriers and promote integration. But can they really play a role in advancing disability rights and driving inclusive development in urban China?

Advancing accessibility

The fundamental idea of accessible spaces is to provide access for everyone, including but not limited to marginalized groups. While cities across China are building basic infrastructure like tactile paths, wheelchair-friendly ramps, accessible restrooms, and elevators, these only address a minority of the basic needs of disabled people. Social, artistic, and entertainment spaces are also important.

That’s where the rise of accessible “third places” comes in. According to HandyCup co-founder Xia Yujie, the idea behind the bar was to “make it easy for everyone to raise a glass.” From the outset, Xia tried to consider the diverse needs of the bar’s potential clients. There are no steps or obstacles, allowing any customer to enter easily. Table and bar heights were designed to accommodate wheelchair users’ sightlines, and the entrance features a Braille introduction for visually impaired customers to understand the bar’s layout. The bar also employs staff fluent in sign language and interpreters for events, enabling the Deaf community to participate fully and communicate freely.

A regular visitor to the pub is Fu Ming, a wheelchair user who works in inclusive design. Before, he used to be upset by stairs and narrow corners in bars that denied access by his wheelchair. Accessible pubs offer him an opportunity to take a break and meet new friends. Located just 10 minutes from his home by wheelchair, he says HandyCup has become an important third space for him.

Nurturing communities

This spring, artists Jia-yue, Vis, and Alice Hu organized China’s first deaf-friendly rave event, “BassBath.” The inaugural show, “BassBath: The Sound Soak,” was held in mid-May at a downtown Shanghai club that had been specially upgraded for accessibility. Low-frequency beats resonated through the room. Deaf and hearing attendees broke the ice through games, followed by sign language rap performances and impromptu rave dancing in the club’s center. After the dance-off, the audience raised their hands in unison — a sign language expression of applause and celebration.

Why clubbing? Vis explained that rave culture and club spaces provide freedom for alternative expression. On the dance floor, where music often drowns out verbal communication, gestures, and body language take over. The vibrations, visual effects, and sensory experience are integral to the clubbing scene, and sharing these sensations blurs the lines between hard of hearing and hearing individuals.

Moving forward, the team wants to host more ambitious events, including an upcoming workshop for hard-of-hearing musicians featuring a deaf DJ from Germany.

Empowering new leaders

HandyCup has been especially active in trying to build a community. Believing that the pub should be an open platform, Xia and his business partner launched the “One-Day Pub Manager” program, allowing visitors to HandyCup to propose and host events like barrier-free board games, woodcut print-making workshops, and sports competitions. On one recent weekend, a visually impaired patron held an open workshop on Braille.

When it comes to the management of accessible third spaces and initiatives, another group of people in the city stands out: disabled business and community leaders. Burn victim Nelly Zhuang’s painstaking rehabilitation fueled her determination to bring inclusivity to urban spaces. Specifically, she believes that promoting social inclusivity requires not only nonprofits, but also business and social innovation. Earlier this year, Zhuang and her hard of hearing business partner Qiu founded Bygonestory, a social enterprise that runs a cultural space in downtown Shanghai. One recent event featured disabled participants, including those who are visually impaired or hard of hearing. Guided by a team of volunteers, they smelled, touched, and learned the stories of plants from the northwestern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, which has historically been a production base for spices. Afterward, participants had the opportunity to create their own wax aromatherapy tablets.

According to Zhuang, disability shouldn’t be equated with vulnerability; it can also be an asset for leadership. “We should view disabled individuals as experts and mentors in the field of inclusivity,” she told me. “They understand the pain points and needs far better than able-bodied individuals.” This positive view of disability is effective in steering business and social enterprises away from one significant downside of traditional charity models: condescension toward disabled individuals, who are seen solely as recipients in need of aid.

Education

In addition to providing accessibility for diverse minority groups, fostering networks, and incubating disability-led projects, accessible third spaces also necessarily involve public education, uniting individuals, businesses, and social organizations in the advocacy of disability rights.

Events such as BassBath not only increase accessibility in public life, but also inspire people to rethink the binary implied by terms like “abled” and “disabled.” For example, when the first BassBath event concluded, a non-signing attendee expressed gratitude for the experience. “We got a taste of what it feels like not to be part of a conversation,” they wrote in a chat group dedicated to the event.

As China witnesses an increasing number of accessible activities, the general population will hopefully rethink their ingrained perceptions regarding the disabled community. Disability should no longer be treated as a deficiency, nor should it be considered a shameful condition borne solely by “unfortunate individuals” or families. Rather, it should be understood as a condition that any of us may experience in our lives, as well as a source of diversity and a catalyst for creativity.  

(Header image: Visuals from @无碍理想 and @透明的下午 on WeChat, edited by Sixth Tone)