Workers put the finishing touches to a floral decoration in Tian'anmen Square yesterday, as part of the preparations for the Paralympic Games. [Xinhua]

The Paralympics will provide the ideal opportunity for the Chinese public to improve its awareness and understanding of people with physical disabilities, a senior Beijing official said yesterday.

Li Caimao, director of the municipal government's disabled persons' affairs committee, said: "Society's lack of knowledge about disabled people is what leads to misunderstanding."

But staging the Paralympic Games, which runs from Sept 6-17, will go a long way to improving that, he said.

Li, who has suffered from polio since the age of 3, said in the past his condition hindered his attempts to win a place at a top university.

"There are no such barriers to getting into college these days. Everyone has equal rights," he said.

"But there is still discrimination."

Changing the attitudes of the public takes time, but the Paralympics will help, he said.

China has 83 million disabled people, about 6 percent of the population, Li said.

About 1 million live in the capital, he said.

More than 200,000 disabled people from Beijing have been or will be involved in Olympic and Paralympic-related activities, and 12,000 applied to work as volunteers, he said.

Sixty-three disabled volunteers will work at Paralympic venues and 680 disabled performers will be involved in the Games' opening and closing ceremonies, he said.

Over the course of the Games, 1,500 disabled artists will take part in events at Beijing's cultural squares, while 10 blind masseurs will provide relief to athletes at sports venues, he said.

One of the advantages of staging the Paralympics is that it brings the needs of disabled people to the fore, Li said.

As part of its preparations for hosting the Games, Beijing has equipped its subways, airports and railway stations with special facilities for the disabled, he said.

Zhao Chunluan, head of the Beijing Disabled Persons' Federation, told a press conference on Sunday that 20,000 disabled people and their families will be invited to watch the Paralympics venues.

Of the 1.66 million tickets on sale, the best seats at the most popular events have all been reserved for disabled people.

Also, every volunteer for the Paralympics, most of whom are able bodied, will undergo about 20 hours of training on how to deal with people with disabilities, he said.

Over the past few years, Beijing has significantly increased the quality and number of services it offers its disabled residents, Zhao said.

In 2006, the Xicheng district government built a service center at a cost of 30 million yuan ($4.4 million), he said.

All registered disabled people can use its rehabilitation facilities, as well as enjoy a range of leisure activities, he said.