In our effort to promote inclusion we have worked with our many Chinese partners on piloting initiatives to include more disabled children into mainstream education, training teachers and education officials, setting up resource centers and working with special schools to lend their expertise to mainstream schools. We have also promoted more media coverage on the topic. As a result we know that as China’s social and economic development has opened up horizons and dreams for all of its citizens for a better and more fulfilling life, so it has opened up the horizons and dreams of China’s disabled children and their families. These dreams are of course about having basic needs met (that still remains important for many) and also having the same educational (and life) opportunities of other children.

This is why the government’s provision for blind students to take the “gaokao”(college entrance exam) in Braille earlier this year was so important. It is a great example of how the government is not just meeting the needs of children, but also protecting their rights. The traditional path for blind children to receive vocational training to become a massage therapist is laudable as it provides professional opportunities and therefore an income. With a wider choice of careers opening up though higher education the government has also provided a route for blind children to realize even more varied dreams.

In addition, this year the Chinese government released the Special Education Promotion Plan. For the first time inclusive education is recognized as a major way for children with disabilities to receive education and will boost the development of inclusive education in China in the coming years.

Building on these successes it is clear that even more resources and efforts to popularize the concepts of child rights are necessary. Let’s all continue to dream and work together on the UNCRC promise, a world where every child’s rights are fulfilled.

Pia MacRae is the country director for Save the Children in China.