Badaling, the most famous part of the Great Wall around Beijing, has been equipped with two lifts and a wheelchair ramp to allow for one of the best views of the man-made wonder meandering along mountain ridges.

Related readings:  1.19m Paralympics tickets sold or given away  Bird's Nest ready for Paralympics  Chilean delegation travels to Paralympics  Beijing Paralympics to be 'as splendid' as Olympics

At the 600-year-old Palace Museum, or the Forbidden City, a 1,000-meter barrier-free pathway allows wheelchair visitors to go along the central axis of the palace.

The city's 235 large- and medium-sized shopping centers have also been made accessible with barrier-free facilities such as wheelchair ramps and Braille signs.

Silk Street, the popular clothing market, now has a 160-meter blind road leading to the entrance and 16 parking spaces for disabled shoppers.

Tang Xiaoquan, the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games executive vice president, said the barrier-free facilities were not for the Paralympics alone. "We mean to get the city's nearly 1 million handicapped population more involved in public life."

Wang Jing, a Xuanwu District volunteer among the 44,000 serving the Paralympics, said the disabled needed to be understood as well as helped on top of the barrier-free facilities.

"I bring paper and a pen with me in case a hearing-impaired person would ask me for help."