International Day of Persons with Disabilities

3 December 2012.

Theme: Removing barriers to create an inclusive and accessible society for all.

Background

Over one billion people, or approximately 15 per cent of the world's population, live with some form of disability.

Persons with disabilities, "the world's largest minority", often face barriers to participation in all aspects of society. Barriers can take a variety of forms, including those relating to the physical environment or to information and communications technology (ICT), or those resulting from legislation or policy, or from societal attitudes or discrimination. The result is that persons with disabilities do not have equal access to society or services, including education, employment, health care, transportation, political participation or justice.

Evidence and experience shows that when barriers to their inclusion are removed and persons with disabilities are empowered to participate fully in societal life, their entire community benefits. Barriers faced by persons with disabilities are, therefore, a detriment to society as a whole, and accessibility is necessary to achieve progress and development for all.

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) recognizes that the existence of barriers constitutes a central component of disability. Under the Convention, disability is an evolving concept that "results from the interaction between persons with impairments and attitudinal and environmental barriers that hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others."

Accessibility and inclusion of persons with disabilities are fundamental rights recognized by the CRPD and are not only objectives, but also pre-requisites for the enjoyment of other rights. The CRPD (Article 9, accessibility) seeks to enable persons with disabilities to live independently and participate fully in all aspects of life and development. It calls upon States Parties to take appropriate measures to ensure that persons with disabilities have access to all aspects of society, on an equal basis with others, as well as to identify and eliminate obstacles and barriers to accessibility.

In spite of this, in many parts of the world today, lack of awareness and understanding of accessibility as a cross-cutting development issue remains an obstacle to the achievement of progress and development through the Millennium Development Goals, as well as other internationally agreed outcomes for all.

The commemoration of International Day of Persons with Disabilities in 2012 provides an opportunity to address this exclusion by focusing on promoting accessibility and removing all types of barriers in society.
Events around the world to commemorate IDPD 2012

You tell us! If you are commemorating the International Day of Persons with Disabilities in your community and would like to share an innovative idea that includes other stakeholders, such as your Government, a UN agency, an NGO/DPO or a community, please let us know about it. We will showcase the idea on our website to inform and inspire others to do the same. Please send your ideas to enable@un.org.

UN system

ECLAC
The Executive Secretariat and the Staff Union of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) invite its staff in Santiago (Chile) for a concert by the Orchestra of the School Santa Lucia, composed of young blind musicians from the Fundación Luz and a welcome address on the theme of the Day by ECLAC's Deputy Executive Secretary. Activities at ECLAC inlcude include a week-long art exhibition by young artists from Fundación Luz. The key message of the commemorative events is that full inclusion of functional diversity opens the door to fully enjoy the contributions made by different capacities. (luis.zuniga@cepal.org; veronica.lazo@cepal.org)

UNIC Moscow
UNIC Moscow, in partnership with RIA-Novosti News Agency and W3C (International Web Consortium) office in Russia, will organize a presentation of the authorized Russian translation of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, WCAG 2.0. WCAG 2.0 in Russian will be presented at a media briefing at RIA-Novosti press centre. The translation project - a joint effort initiated by the UNIC Moscow and supported by the UN Coordination Office in the Russian Federation - is intended to facilitate the use of this important international standard by web designers in Russia. In accordance with W3C procedure, after the translation was completed, the text was submitted to an editorial panel consisting of ICT professionals and pro-disabled advocacy groups, before a final W3C approval. On 4 December, also as part of the observance of the Day, the UNIC Moscow will organize a special thematic event "My Voice Counts." The party will bring together representatives of Government organizations, advocacy and human rights groups, international organizations and journalists. The central element of the soirée will be the opening of an exhibition of photographs - winners of the national competition "Without Barriers," organized by the Russian Society of the Disabled and the Union of Photography Artists of Russia. With the International Day of Human Rights just around the corner, another thematic emphasis of the event will be on building inclusive society.

UNESCO
To commemorate the Day, the Director-General of UNESCO will issue an official statement. UNESCO will launch an online community on disability issues and the first findings of the world report on the use of ICTs to access information and knowledge for persons with disabilities, as well as a report entitled "Accessible ICTs and Personalized Learning for Students with Disabilities" in English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, Russian and Portuguese (http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/themes/icts/teacher-education/unesco-ict-competency-framework-for-teachers/).

UNICEF
To commemorate the Day, UNICEF will launch a Disability Orientation campaign for its global staff via an awareness-raising policy video and related questionnaire.

Global

Think big. Overcome barriers: As part of the EU co-funded project "Making development inclusive", AIFO, Associazione Italiana Amici di Raoul Follereau, has developed a short animated video on this year's theme for the celebration of the international day of persons with disabilities 2012. The title is "Think big. Overcome barriers". (www.overcomebarriers.eu; Italian version: www.superalebarriere.eu)

CBM and partners will be celebrating the Day around the world: http://www.cbm.org/Celebrating-3rd-Dec-368340.php.

Mobility International USA will release a new video" "Creating a World As It Should Be ®: The Power of Disabled Women Activists" that documents the power of disabled women activists in their quest to be included in international development programs. Sharing strategies across borders, this powerful, uplifting and invigorating documentary portrays activists who are paving the way for women and girls in their own countries to achieve their human rights. The video will be available for free in English, Spanish and Arabic on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/miusa1981.

The Zero Project Report 2013, with its special focus on employment and persons with disabilities, will be launched at the Vienna International Film Festival for Human Rights. At the launch, some of the most striking findings and figures of this year's research, innovative practices as well as innovative policies from all around the world will be presented. Afterwards the award-winning Korean movie "Planet of snail" will be shown (see http://vimeo.com/31821257). The Report, published annually by the Essl Foundation, has been produced this year in collaboration with the World Future Council, Disabled Peoples' International and the International Institute for Advanced Studies. (www.zeroproject.org)