5th December 2022 • My Family Our Needs
The International Day of People with Disabilities (IDPWD) took place on Saturday and is a United Nations-led day of recognition which takes place every year on 3rd December. It promotes the rights of people with disabilities in all areas of society. It aims to increase the awareness and wellbeing of disabled people in all aspects of their life.
It acts as a reminder for us all to combat the discrimination many disabled people still face.
IDPWD was founded in 1992 to celebrate people living with disabilities across the world. It symbolises the actions we should all take every day to create more diverse and accessible communities. IDPWD reminds us that there is still more to be done for equality.
The principles of IDPWD are:
- Celebration.
- Learning.
- Optimism.
- Action.
This year’s awareness day covered the following three themes:
- Innovation for disability inclusive development in employment: this dialogue will discuss the linkages between employment, knowledge and skills required to access employment in an innovative, rapidly changing technological landscape to all and how assistive technologies can increase accessibility to employment and be mainstreamed in the workplace.
- Innovation for disability inclusive development in reducing inequality: this dialogue will discuss innovations, practical tools and good practices to reduce inequalities in both public and private sectors, which are disability inclusive and interested in promoting diversity in the workplace.
- Innovation for disability inclusive development: sport as an exemplar case: a sector where all of these aspects coalesce; sport as a good practice example and a site of innovation, employment and equity.
The United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy
When launching the United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy in June 2019, the Secretary-General stated that the United Nations should lead by example and raise the Organization’s standards and performance on disability inclusion—across all pillars of work, from headquarters to the field.
The United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy provides the foundation for sustainable and transformative progress on disability inclusion through all pillars of the work of the United Nations. Through the Strategy, the United Nations system reaffirms that the full and complete realization of the human rights of all persons with disabilities is an inalienable, integral and indivisible part of all human rights and fundamental freedoms.
In October 2021, the Secretary-General submitted his second report on steps taken by the UN system to implement the UN Disability Inclusion Strategy in 2020. Given the impact of the COVID-19 on persons with disabilities, the report also contains a brief reflection on disability-inclusive COVID-19 response and recovery.
Visit the IDWPD website for more information.