And in the area of education, many schools simply lack access or cite outdated school policies for not opening their doors to disabled students. This is particularly discouraging as barriers snowball if one has no education.

The federation says that Chinese society is "not fully informed of the disabled people's suffering", and that the government needs to increase publicity efforts so that society on the whole, and the disabled, can better communicate with each other.

The government is now doing just that with its unprecedented coverage of the Paralympics by the Chinese media. Also, tickets to the Paralympics are selling well. This means that the 4,200 national and international Paralympians have had large crowds to cheer them on. It is perhaps the greatest promotional effort thus far to increase awareness of persons with disabilities in the country. Chinese society can witness firsthand the abilities of disabled persons in the sporting arena.

The next step will be for the abilities of disabled persons on the Paralympic field to be translated into a realization of their abilities to study, work, and go about daily life in a barrier-free society. The Paralympics is not an event to give the disabled something to do. It is to showcase that disabled persons, despite whatever perceived disability, are just as able as the non-disabled to contribute to society. They should not be considered a burden.

Dedication and hard work will be on display at the Paralympics. And all those fortunate enough to have witnessed the athletes need to know that such dedication translates to the workplace in terms of having a more productive and loyal employee in a company. In the academic arena, excluding the disabled means a country is not fully reaching its own potential: educational opportunities should be provided to all citizens.

The clear blue skies these past few weeks have spurred Beijing residents to call for keeping such measures as traffic reduction permanent. Perhaps with increased awareness of the abilities of the disabled, calls for positive change for these citizens will be made as well.

The author is a paraplegic confined to a wheelchair. He lives and works in Beijing

By Eric Roeder