BEIJING -- President Xi Jinping on Thursday met here with representatives attending a ceremony commending role models with disabilities and people who have made outstanding contributions in helping the disabled.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, encouraged the representatives to make continued efforts to achieve new accomplishments in supporting China's disabled people.

Xi shook hands with the representatives, asked them about their work and lives, and took a group photo with them.

Premier Li Keqiang and Wang Huning, a member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, both members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, also met with the representatives.

In a speech delivered at the ceremony, state Councilor Wang Yong called for improved mechanisms and efficient measures for disability support.

He demanded efforts to enable more people with disabilities to live better lives and to lift impoverished people with disabilities in rural areas out of poverty.

Wang also called for concrete measures to guarantee equal rights for the disabled.

People with disabilities should learn from the role models to carry forward the spirit of self-reliance, he said.

A total of 167 role models with disabilities, 100 outstanding units and 100 outstanding individuals of disability support, 100 disability support centers, as well as 33 model workers of disabled persons' federations were commended at the ceremony.