Car wash offers jobs for the intellectually disabled

Zhang Qian

A WECHAT post about a car wash in the Meilin area of Futian District has gone viral among Shenzhen residents since the car wash employs a group of special people: the intellectually disabled.

Called Xihan’er Car Wash, it provisionally opened in mid-July, and the number of customers increased exponentially after the news began circulating among Shenzheners. Many people have even lined up in front of the car wash to help support it.

“I hope there will be more car washes like this that offer jobs to intellectually disabled people,” said a car owner, named Wen, who drove there to have her car washed.

Xihan’er Car Wash is the first non-governmental organization (NGO) on the Chinese mainland that is dedicated to offering jobs and training to intellectually disabled adults.

In most places in China, special education schools and rehabilitation centers only accept children under 18 years of age. Where the children will go and what they will do after graduation is always a big concern for these young people’s families.

The parents of these special children also face another heartbreaking dilemma: who will help their children after they pass away.

“My dream is to create a village for these special children: a sustainable organization that offers jobs and care for their whole lives,” said Cao Jun, the founder of the car wash and a care center for special kids.

“When the parents of the older kids pass away, the parents of the younger kids can take over the responsibility of caring for the intellectually disabled people who are already at senior ages,” said Cao.

Though the government has policies in place that provide jobs for mentally disabled people at factories, hotels and other companies, the work conditions at these places often do not meet the needs of the disabled. The supervisors often lack the training and patience necessary to work with them. Many parents are reluctant to send their children into these hostile work environments.

Cao estimates that the majority of intellectually disabled people stay at home instead of entering the workforce after graduation.

As the father of a 13-year-old intellectually disabled boy without a technical skill to earn his own living, Cao worries about his son’s future.

“My son is studying at a special school now, but what worries me the most is that when his mother and I pass away, who is going to support him since he is incapable of working and supporting himself like most other people,” Cao told Shenzhen Daily on Wednesday.

After visiting others places such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macao and Singapore, Cao found a commercial mode that might be a good solution to this problem, though making money was not his primary reason for opening the car wash.

What impressed Cao the most during his visit to Taiwan was that he saw many intellectually disabled people who were able to blend into society by washing cars or doing other simple jobs. So Cao decided to do something similar when he came back to Shenzhen.

“Instead of asking for others’ sympathy and money, we should teach and train these special people to do what they can to earn a living with dignity, and the initial task for us now is to build up a sustainable commercial mode,” said Cao.

As a businessperson himself, Cao collaborated with nine other parents of intellectually disabled children and invested nearly 1 million yuan (US$161,100) in renting and renovating the car wash.

The team recruited eight intellectually disabled people, the oldest aged 47 and the youngest 19, and three professional car wash staff members as well as a special education teacher.

The location of the car wash is not ideal since it can’t be seen very well on Kaifeng Road in eastern Meilin. In the beginning, only five or six drivers a day would stop in for service.

Cao said he hopes the city government will allocate some venues to their organization, which has a goal of opening 10 car washes across the city.

Since the news is spreading among Shenzheners, the car wash is now receiving around 20 cars per day. They charge 35 yuan for a basic car wash, the same as other car washes around the city.

The car wash is still operating on a trial basis, but Cao hopes his special employees will be fully trained and ready to fully open the car wash Aug. 8.