Five years on from a horrific car accident that cost her left arm and leg, Chinese content creator Weng Xinyi has transformed her personal catastrophe into a force for empowerment. Not only has she carved out a mission to create employment for people with disabilities, but she has also challenged and redefined societal perceptions of ability.
The life-altering incident occurred in 2020, when the then 25-year-old was seriously injured in a crash involving a Porsche driven by a friend. Weng’s survival was nothing short of a miracle: she suffered three cardiac arrests and underwent 14 surgeries before pulling through. However, her ordeal was compounded by betrayal—her boyfriend left her, and financial ruin loomed when the friend responsible halted payments for her medical expenses.
Coming to terms with her new circumstances took Weng a full year. To signify what she describes as a “rebirth,” she adopted the new name Youyou (literally meaning “right right”) and made a firm commitment to show that disability would not curtail her worth or aspirations.
Her journey of reinvention gained momentum in 2022, when she founded a yoga clothing brand and stepped into the role of brand model herself. Building on this success, she expanded her impact last year by establishing a shoe-cleaning factory in Guangdong Province, close to her hometown in Guangxi. The facility employs 10 staff, half of whom live with disabilities, and each role is tailored to leverage individual strengths.
For instance, a worker with osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle bone disease) manages shoe sorting and digital documentation. A hearing-impaired employee operates the loud cleaning machinery—an assignment that plays to their reduced sensitivity to noise. Meanwhile, a man affected by polio takes charge of detailed cleaning tasks, a role Weng notes aligns perfectly with his careful, unhurried pace.
“Disability does not set a person’s limits; rather, it defines their uniqueness,” Weng emphasized. “People with disabilities possess their own distinct advantages. All they require is a chance to showcase them.”
