Massage feels the squeeze

Yang's strategy has worked wonders. He opened a second parlor three months later, and a third in July of this year. The fourth is scheduled to open next month. The three current branches receive 300 to 400 costumers on an average holiday and at least 100 on weekdays.

"It's all about marketing," said Yang, who was a board director of the Taipei City Massage Professional Association during the Peitou hot spring scene of the 1970s. Like most visually-impaired people, he had been trained as a masseur, a profession which, Yang's teachers had told him, is the first and last job for the blind. However, his curiosity would not keep him confined to the field of massage. Attending various business workshops, the self-taught entrepreneur later ran businesses ranging from a record studio, to an insurance agency, all the while maintaining his skills as a masseur.

"No matter what the business, you need to make changes in order to improve. When I wanted to set up my massage centers, I was thinking about what changes we had to make to reclaim the market long taken over by barbershops. Blind masseurs' businesses need a distinguishably healthy image. ... By showing what masseurs do in bright light, we try to give the public the correct idea of massage," he said.

Level playing field

But entrepreneurship is not the only answer for the visually impaired who want to pursue a career in massage. For coming generations, elevating the level of massage as a profession may, in turn, elevate its image in the public eye.

"Massage not only helps the body relax, but has therapeutic effects. We hope that rehabilitation departments in medical schools can soon begin to enroll visually impaired students, to raise their status from that of massage practitioner to medical professional," said Cheng Zi (張自), dean of the Taipei Visually Impaired School (台北啟明學校), which includes an elementary school, junior and senior high, and a vocational school. According to Cheng, many students in her school are interested in and capable of a medical career, but at present no medical college education has been open to them.

"What the visually impaired really need is a deep understanding of their situation," Cheng said.

As much as the motherly dean cares about her students, she cannot look after them forever. In her opinion, greater understanding and action on the part of the government will give the visually impaired more choices in their lives.