The 36-year-old started to use a wheelchair at age 14 due to spondylosis. At first, she learned English by herself at home. In 1994, she went to study in the Dalian University of Foreign Languages, and two years later was accepted by the Beijing Foreign Studies University. She is now pursuing a master's degree in the Renmin University of China.

However, not every disabled person was as lucky as Guan.

Born in 1972 in north China's Hebei Province, Zhao Erbiao was disabled by poliomyelitis when he was just eight months old. With the help of crutches, he finished junior middle school but didn't continue his education.

"At that time, I believed I was mainly discouraged by the multi-storey building in the high school. The primary and junior schools I attended only had single-storey buildings," he said.

But now he found out that his own inferiority complex might have been the true reason behind his drop-out.

"I think I lost my faith in the future when some people told me that no college would accept me even if I could pass the admission examination," he admitted.

According to the China Disabled Persons' Federation, nearly 20,000 disabled students were studying in higher education institutions in 2007, a negligible number as against the country's total disabled population.

But in 2007 alone, 5,234 disabled persons were admitted to ordinary colleges and another 1,086 entered "special colleges" particularly for the disabled.

Jiang Xintian, a hearing impaired girl who won the Media Focus prize in the Miss China Universe pageant in 2003, said there is still a long way to go for China's education for the disabled.

"I hope the government and society will continuously push forward education for the disabled, and all members of the disabled community will cherish every opportunity to advance themselves," she said.

(Xinhua News Agency September 11, 2008)