Zhang Haidi

Zhang Haidi was reelected chairperson of Rehabilitation International (RI) at a recent congress.

Zhang, who was first elected to the post in October 2016, was voted in by an overwhelming majority for another four-year term beginning in 2020.

The organization's executive committee and its members lauded Zhang's efforts in stepping up reform measures as a clear priority for the RI, the world's leading network for the rights and inclusion of people with disabilities.

Born in east China's Shandong Province in 1955, Zhang sustained paraplegia due to a spinal cord disease at the age of 5. Although Zhang didn't attend school, she learned all the primary and middle school subjects on her own. She received a master's degree in philosophy from Jilin University in 1993. Since 1983, she has published several books.

She was chairperson of the China Disabled Persons' Federation from 2008 to 2016.