Over 900,000 disabled lifted from poverty in 2017

About 925,000 people with disabilities were lifted out of poverty and 105,000 found employment in 2017, the China Disabled Person's Federation announced Thursday at a news conference ahead of the 28th National Day for Helping the Disabled.

The National Day for Helping the Disabled falls on May 20, and the theme for this year's celebration is "Nobody with disabilities will be left out on our way to build a moderately prosperous society."

According to Guo Liqun, spokesman for the federation, 2017 has seen marked progress in assisting disabled people stranded in poverty through education and arranged employment.

He added that 706,000 people with disabilities received useful technical training last year to master at least one skill that could brighten their employment outlook in the future.

In the past five years, 5 million people with disabilities have shaken off poverty and 3 million have learned a job skill.

According to authorities, people with disabilities account for 10 percent of the total individuals registered with the national database for impoverished people, and its proportion has been climbing for years. The federation will make full use of the database, further improve and round up medical services, and add more education opportunities in a bid to realize the goal of lifting all rural people out of poverty by 2020.

Wang Xiaoyu contributed to this story.