盲人政协委员杨佳

Sitting quietly in a meeting room after a panel discussion, Yang Jia recalls the past four years.

"I've changed over the years. When I first began my CPPCC story, I began by telling my Yang Jia Journal. I was pretty green back then, but now I am practically an old hand. The past four years have been an intense experience. Lots of proposals have been submitted and I learned a lot from my fellow members, and I also tried to stress certain problems and shared my views with government officials and CPPCC members."

During the past four years, Yang raised several proposals each year; some of which were greeted with active responses and greatly affected the wellbeing of China.

"The one which impressed me most was the initiative to allow college students to act as volunteers during the 2008 Olympics and Paralympics. That was one of my proposals during my first year and it was eventually realized. I went on to become an expert in volunteer training."

More than 53,000 college volunteers worked during the Beijing Olympic Games and 21,000 for the Paralympics. The quality of volunteer services received praise from onlookers across the world.

The adopted proposal was born from her experience at Harvard Kennedy School, where Yang learned about government policy-making and reform procedures; a subject closely related to her role as a political advisor.

Currently, Yang Jia, who lost her eyesight at the age of 29, is also the vice-chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). As she says, she fights on behalf of those with disabilities, and she constantly calls for greater equality among able-bodied and disabled people.

This year, one of Yang's proposals concerns people who are hard-of-hearing. For the past three decades, the Spring Festival Gala, broadcast live on the Chinese Lunar New Year's Eve, has not been presented with subtitles. As a result, people with hearing difficulties have been unable to enjoy it in the same way as those who can hear perfectly. Yang has a suggestion which aims to resolve this problem:

"My proposal concerns live television programs. I hope that these programs can be broadcast with captions, and that they take into account those people who are hard-of-hearing. In this way, broadcasters can ensure that people with disabilities enjoy equal rights in regards to cultural activities. This is my role and my responsibility."

A number of other proposals have also been submitted concerning the disabled, such as updating facilities for people with disabilities in public places, building a Braille library for the visually impaired and designing special parcels for the disabled.

Aside from championing the cause of disabled people, Yang is also concerned with other social affairs. For instance, this year, Yang also appealed for the establishment of international standards within preschool education and for the adjustment of the gender ratio among teachers in primary schools and middle schools.

After being a member of the CPPCC for four years already, Yang feels that she has a more in-depth view of the political process. As China confronts problems never before encountered, due to the immense nature of the country's social and economic transition, Yang feels that national advisors require a certain amount of foresight in order to carry out their responsibilities.

In order to raise high-quality proposals, political advisors conduct thorough research at the grass-roots level. Yang Jia says her sense of responsibility inspires her to carry out such comprehensive research, because she dreams of improving the lives of the Chinese people.

"The CPPCC provides a platform to enable that we realize our dreams. As U.S. President John F. Kennedy once said, we choose to do things not because they are easy, but because they are hard. So, for China, a country in transition, there are bound to be lots of problems and we must work hard to find solutions."

Over the past four years, Yang is satisfied with having found her voice within the Chinese political process. She will continue to have her voice heard, whether she is a political advisor or not come this time next year, because once a voice has been heard, the government as well as society as a whole will respond in an attempt to create a better life for the people.

For CRI, I'm Li Ningjing.