With exactly one year to go to the opening of the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games, Zhang Haidi, political advisor and executive president of the organizing committee for the games, said on Thursday that China has made great strides in protecting people with disabilities. She was speaking at the fourth annual session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in Beijing.

Regarded as China's Hellen Keller, Zhang, a writer who uses a wheelchair, is a household name in China for her persistence and perseverance despite disabilities caused by childhood polio. She is also the chairwoman of the China Disabled Persons' Federation.

The Beijing Winter Paralympic Games will be staged between March 4 and 13, 2022.