Zhang Haidi, a wheelchair-bound female writer and chairperson of the China Disabled Persons' Federation (CDPF), told a press conference that as a disabled person, she has witnessed and experienced real changes in the past decades.

Recalling that in the 1960s she was refused by most primary schools and had no means to obtain a wheelchair as a teenager. Zhang, now 64, lauded the development of the country's education and rehabilitation services for persons with disabilities.

The number of students in special education schools has grown significantly over the years. In 2018, 666,000 students with disabilities studied in these schools, an increase of 298,000 people, or 81 percent over 2013, according to the white paper.