Voice Changer (倾音)
Giving Everyone the Right to Listen and Speak
The Lives of People with Articulation Disorders in China
Articulation disorder is an umbrella term referring to any combination of difficulties with perception, motor production, and/or the phonological representation of speech sounds and speech segments that impact speech intelligibility. It is a special concern for patients with unilateral cleft lip and palate. In China, as many as 6 million Chinese children may have articulation problems, and the number is expected to grow in the next decade.
Children with disabilities in China only begun to have access to special education recently, and the efforts are mainly concentrated on blindness, deafness, physical disabilities, and intellectual disabilities. Research on articulation disorder continues to lag behind, and many children with articulation issues still struggle without proper speech therapy. In order to bring greater awareness to the prevalence of this disorder, as well as the needs of affected children and their families, ChinaNext is taking action through Voice Changer.
About Voice Changer
Voice Changer's mission is to give the equal rights to listen and speak for those with articulation disorders. Voice Changer has been building community service stations, which links children with speech therapists, and establishing high-quality volunteer teams comprised of many students majoring in broadcasting. Voice changer collaborates with hospitals, government agencies, organisations such as Shanghai Yingrong Education and Technology co., ltd, to offer children professional speech therapy online and in person. By combining the knowledge gained when running the project at these different facilities, Voice changer will establish a public, professional, and sustainable platform for individuals with auditory disorders.
Since its launch in 2016, Voice Changer helped over 200 patients, assisted more than 600 individuals, and trained more than 400 volunteers for speech correction. The project's work is widely publicized on mass media such as Souhu, toutiao.com, and Weibo. With the support of public and private organizations, Voice changer was awarded in the Tencent Youth Volunteer Leader Competition, as the most popular and most creative project; the Gold Award of the ShaanXi Province University Student Entrepreneurship Competition, and the Excellent Team of China Summer Social Practice.
NextLeader：Xintong(杜心童)
Xintong is a partyrepresentative of Zhejiang Province, the director of the Zhejiang YouthResearch Association, a member of the Zhejiang Social Work and VolunteerService Committee, a member of the Wenzhou Youth League Committee, and Vice Chairpersonof the Longgang Women’s Federation. She is also an active participant of 19other community-based organizations. In 2014, she was recognised as a prominentsocial entrepreneur by the China Charity Alliance.
Over the years, Xintong gained these positions through social work on child-welfare; improving the lives of left-behind children, reducing youth deviance, and educating estranged families. When working, she sees herself as a social worker and volunteer, no matter how her roles and positions change. Xingtong developed extensive experience in field work and project management, using these skills, she collaborated with others to establish and develop numerous institutions devoted to youth education throughout China.