Ma Yanyan, a Hui woman from Qapqal Xibe Autonomous County, Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, overcame many obstacles to finally become a village official.

She was born in 1993 with cerebellar hypoplasia caused by a lack of oxygen at birth. By the time she started school, she was still unable to walk, so her father built her a go-cart. Eventually, when she was eight years old, she managed to stand up and limp to school by herself.

Ma Yanyan took me with her to retrace the path she used to take to school. She told me that it had not yet been paved with asphalt when she was a child, so when it rained, she would often slip and fall and would arrive at school covered with mud. But no matter how bad the weather was, she never missed a single day.

Such muddy roads led Ma Yanyan one after the other to her elementary school, middle school, and high school. While in high school, her mother became seriously ill, and the resulting lack of financial stability meant that she would probably have to drop out of school. At that moment, the village's "Fang Hui Ju" committee came to her rescue by giving her the school fees she needed. ("Fang" means "find out what people need," "Hui" means "safeguard their well-being," and "Ju" means "win their support." It is a public welfare organization set up by the government of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in urban communities, townships, and villages.)

The China Disabled Persons' Federation (a national organization formed by representatives of all kinds of disabled persons and disabled persons' workers to safeguard the human rights of disabled persons in China) also helped her to apply for a scholarship. With this help and her own unrelenting determination, Ma Yanyan went on to university.

Four years later, upon her graduation, she successfully applied for the position of college-graduate village official in her own home village. (China has a policy to promote rural development by recruiting college graduates to serve as village officials.)

In the five years since she started work, Ma Yanyan has won a large stack of awards. She told me: "I have not been 'looked at differently' or 'discriminated against'; instead, I am truly satisfied because, through my own efforts, I have a decent job, earn a stable income, and live a happy life just as others do." At the time of my interview, she was pregnant with her second child.

She dreams of sharing her story with more people, to encourage everyone with low self-esteem or those who dare not step out of their homes due to physical disabilities to have the courage to pursue happiness. This way, more people like her will become brave enough to shine by creating value and meaning for their lives.

She is currently planning to learn how to shoot and edit videos so that she can run a "Douyin" account (a social media platform for sharing short videos in China) for her village. Promoting the local scenery and specialties is likely to bring more benefits to the villagers.

For years, Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture has been implementing programs for the rehabilitation, education and employment of people with disabilities, providing assistance and services for more than 19,000 people with disabilities in 2023 alone. The enrollment rate of school-age children and teenagers with disabilities has reached 98%.

"We are all the same" is a phrase which not only encouraged Ma Yanyan to pursue her dreams, but also depicts the kind of social recognition that everyone longs for.

The views don't necessarily reflect those of DeepChina.

The author is Li Jian, reporter for the Integrated Media Center of Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture.