China marks the annual National Day for Helping the Disabled on May 19, 2013, the third Sunday in May. Following is a collection of stories related to the disabled people in China.

Helping the disabled a priority Helping the disabled a priority Helping the disabled a priority

Autism

Zhao Xiaoguang and her 4-year-old son Shi Boyu attend a rehabilitation training course in Harbin, Northeast China’s Heilongjiang province, March 27, 2013. Zhao suffers from ankylosing spondylitis, a type of arthritis of the spine. She raised 50,000 yuan from more than 10 neighbors to treat her son, who has autism, in Harbin. [Photo/Xinhua]

Related story: Chinese autism kids face misunderstanding

Basketball

Qin Xulei, 13, plays basketball, with his friends in Luoyang, Central China’s Henan province, May 10, 2013. Qin lost his legs in a car accident when he was four years old. He likes playing basketball and dreams of playing in the Paralympic Games in the future, Xinhua reported. [Photo/Xinhua]

Calligraphy

Zhang Xianggui performs calligraphy by holding a writing brush with his mouth in his studio in Huoqiu, East China’s Anhui province, May 7, 2013. Zhang, a farmer born in 1970, lost his two arms from a congenital disease, but he formed remarkable calligraphy skills with his feet and mouth. His artwork has won city and provincial awards. [Photo/Asianewsphoto]

 Helping the disabled a priority Education  Helping the disabled a priority
Dance
 
Members of Harbin Disabled People’s Art Troupe dance during a training session in Harbin, Northeast China’s Heilongjiang province, May 14, 2013. The members get a monthly subsidy of 700 yuan. [Photo/Xinhua]
Educational coverage for people with more types of disabilities, such as autism and cerebral palsy, will expand, according to a draft revision to the regulation on the education of the disabled.

Film

A man listens to a film at the Film-watching for the Blind event in the Shushan district of Hefei city, East China’s Anhui province, April 10, 2013. The district invested 100,000 yuan to purchase books and films to improve the quality of life for blind people.[Photo/Asianewsphoto]

Helping the disabled a priority
Helping the disabled a priority
Impoverished

Guide

Passers-by show their interest in Zhenni, a guide dog, in Wuhan, Hubei province, on Wednesday. Chen Yan (center), China's first blind piano tuner and owner of the dog, will stay in the city for three days to promote public awareness of guide dogs. PHOTO BY CHEN ZHUO / FOR CHINA DAILY

Hearing

Gao Xiaobo, 34, helps a child with hearing difficulties insert a hearing-aid in Weihai, East China’s Shandong province, April 22, 2013. Gao, who has severe hearing loss, now commits himself to helping those with hearing difficulties thanks to a governmental policy on support. [Photo/Xinhua]

About 15 million disabled people live below China's poverty line in the country's rural areas, the China Disabled Persons' Federation revealed in March 2013. The group represents about 12 percent of the country's total population living in poverty.

 Helping the disabled a priority  Helping the disabled a priority  Helping the disabled a priority

Job

People who are disabled learn to make handicrafts on a training course in Nantong, East China’s Jiangsu province, April 19, 2013. The course aims to create job opportunities for the disabled.[Photo/Asianewsphoto]

Knitting

Qin Jincai, 26, shows his knitting work in Yichang, Central China’s Hubei province, March 14, 2013. Qin became paralyzed in his lower limbs after an accident when he was 19 years old, but picked up the courage to learn knitting for a living. His first work was collected by his mother, and he sold the second one for several hundred yuan. [Photo/Icpress]

Law

An advocacy group was established in Beijing on April 26, 2013 to help the disabled better know their legal rights. The group of 12 members will host 48 speeches from April to November in Beijing. [Photo/Asianewsphoto]

Helping the disabled a priority

 New

Helping the disabled a priority

Marriage

A man looks at information in a matchmaking event especially for the disabled in Qingzhou, East China’s Shandong province, April 13, 2013. [Photo/Asianewsphoto]

New progress has been made in the employment of the disabled, as China created new jobs for 329,000 disabled urban residents in 2012, according to a communique released by the China Disabled Persons' Federation (CDPF). About 13.34 million disabled people in rural areas were included in the new rural social endowment insurance system, taking up 63.8 percent of the total disabled rural population.

Orphanage

Yuan Lihai had a heart attack and was hospitalized on Saturday. A fatal fire on Friday at Yuan's illegally run orphanage in Henan province on Friday killed six children and a young adult. [Photo/China Daily]

Related: Orphanage owner hospitalized

Helping the disabled a priority

Helping the disabled a priority

Helping the disabled a priority

Policy

Yang Jia, the only female blind member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), attends a group discussion in Beijing, March 5, 2013. Yang is also a respected professor with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the first blind overseas Master of Public Administration at Harvard Kennedy School. [Photo/Asianewsphoto]

Quantity

A disabled student receives medical checkup in Changchun, Northeast China's Jilin province, May 17, 2013. Out of the 85 million people with physical disabilities in China, 90 percent need rehabilitation, but only 10 million have access to such services, Health News, a newspaper managed by the Ministry of Health, reported. [Photo/Xinhua]

Ride

Bao Hanming rides a bicycle during training in Nantong, Jiangsu province May 5, 2013. Bao, who lost his lower right arm when he was 8 years old, won over 10 medals in provincial and national contests. His dream is to ride bike around Taiwan island in the future. [Photo by Xu Peiqin/Asianewsphoto]

Helping the disabled a priority

Helping the disabled a priority

Helping the disabled a priority

Sign

Residents learn sign language in a community in Jinzhou, Northeast China's Liaoning province May 13, 2013. The activity aims to promote the awareness of those who are deaf and dumb. [Photo/Asianewsphoto]

Teacher

Teacher Wang Qionghua, 47, plays with children at a special education school in Jinhua, East China's Zhejiang province, January 15, 2013. The school has 15 students who are physically disabled and intellectually challenged. [Photo/CFP]

University

Hong Runhao answers the phone in his office at the Wuliande Elementary School in Harbin, Northeast China’s Heilongjiang province, May 4, 2013. Hong, who suffers from polio, established a team of student volunteers in November 2011 to tutor children of migrant workers, poor families and the disabled. In the past several years, more than 4700 university students have become volunteers in his team and they have helped 420 students, of whom, 22 were later admitted by provincial-level key high schools.[Photo/Xinhua]

Victims

Helping the disabled a priority

Helping the disabled a priority

Police have arrested 360 suspects who are suspected of abducting disabled people who cannot speak or hear and forcing them to commit crimes, according to the Ministry of Public Security.Police in 21 provincial regions have uncovered 61 major criminal gangs exploiting vulnerable people

Related: Vulnerable victims rescued from gangs exploiting disabled

Win

Armless student Zhang Yan practices swimming in Nantong, East China’s Jiangsu province, May 17, 2013. Zhang started swimming when he was 10 years old, and he won a number of regional and national awards. Zhang’s dream is to win a gold medal at the Paralympic Games.[Photo/Xinhua]

Xiamen

A new kind of public kindergarten for children with disabilities will be put into operation in Xiamen, East China’s Fujian province this September. The kindergarten integrates education and treatment of children with disabilities including mental health problems, autism, and hearing and speech disorders.Nearly 200 kids are expected to receive special guidance and education in the kindergarten.

Helping the disabled a priority
Helping the disabled a priority

 

Yes We Can

Zhan Yi and his wife Wu Tengli pose for a picture in their home in Hefei, East China's Anhui province, May 14, 2013. The couple, both deaf-mute, started to create hand and foot prints in clay as a gift for their daughter, but later they turned it into a booming business. Recently, the couple received special business funding for the disabled from the local community.
[Photo/Xinhua]
 

Zhang Haidi

China should make continuous efforts to enable disabled students to have equal access to education, as the latest monitoring results show tens of thousands of children with disabilities have been excluded from public education, Zhang Haidi, chairwoman of the China Disabled Persons' Federation, said.[Photo/Asianewsphoto]

Related: Equality in education urged for disabled