Wendy Zhang/ Shanghai

Shanghai will offer more help to the disabled, especially the poor, according to a local special conference on supporting the poor disabled residents yesterday.
Last year, the city implemented a series of programs to help the disabled, including the following:
* Assigning more than 5,000 handicapped persons to help the other disabled ones;
* Leaving the severely handicapped and jobless people in the care of others;
* Establishing certain bases in rural areas to finance the disabled;
* Allowing all severely handicapped people without working abilities to enjoy the city's minimum income and offering endowment insurances to more than 60,000 handicapped persons in suburban areas.
By the end of last year, 259 disabled retirees had received basic pensions and 17,106 severely handicapped people received 500 yuan (US$60) a year in medical subsidies.
"Our job will be to focus on helping poor handicapped people to ensure their basic living conditions, rights and interests by enhancing financial support, education, employment and medical treatment services for them," said Shanghai Vice Mayor Zhou Taitong, who is in charge of the work to help the disabled. The city should establish a perfect network in city, district, sub-district and neighborhood committee (village) levels to do good needs for the disabled every year, Zhou added.