Wheelchair-bound Yi Xiaoyuan has never let his physical condition hold him back. Now a student at Beijing's Tsinghua University, he tells Nick Compton that his misfortunes have made him stronger.

When he talks about his disability, Yi Xiaoyuan has a serious look on his face. His voice doesn't halter and his gaze doesn't wander. He has been in a wheelchair for 10 years, since he was 11 years old and his rheumatoid arthritis worsened.

With his mother sitting next to him in his dorm room at Tsinghua University, his responses are measured, and his voice confident. He wants you to know about his disability not because he considers himself exceptional, but because in China, disability is often not spoken about with this kind of frank openness.