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2011 International Day of Persons with Disabilities will promote inclusive development

The 3 December is an international day of people with disabilities. Each year there is a different theme. This year’s theme is about people with disabilities helping their peers in poor countries.     That will happen through various activities. For example, public discussions, performances and others.

With the theme “Together for a better world for all: including persons with disabilities in development”, on the 3rd of·December the International Day of Persons with Disabilities will try to promote the inclusion of people with disabilities and their communities in developmental efforts.

Persons with disabilities make up an estimated 10% of the world’s population, 80% of which reside in developing countries. Furthermore, a quarter of the global population is directly affected by disability, as care-givers or family members. Therefore, including disability issues in development efforts around the world is essential. This is the idea on which the International Day of Persons with Disabilities will focus this year on the 3^rd of December.

The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs requested the input of its partners and the general public for suggestions on a theme for the International Day of Persons with Disabilities 2011, from which it received a lot of responses till the final theme was decided. Inclusion of people with disabilities in development is undoubtedly of a great importance, especially considering that people with disabilities consist 10% of the world’s population, 80% of which live in developing countries. Furthermore, a quarter of the global population is directly affected by disability as care-givers.

For the first time in its tradition, the International Day of Persons with disabilities will be commemorated under a general theme with supporting sub-themes to draw attention to key areas that would work in synergy to mainstream disability in all development processes. The suggested sub-themes are:

1. Mainstreaming disability: including a disability perspective in all development processes (more information)
2. Gender: including women and girls with disabilities in development (more information)
3. Including children and youth with disabilities in development (more information)
4. Accessibility: removing barriers and promoting disability-inclusive development (more information)
5. Promoting data collection and statistics on disability (more information)·

Following the pattern of the previous years, United Nations aims at the organisation of hold forums, public discussions and information campaigns in support of the themes, performances everywhere to showcase - and celebrate - the contributions made by persons with disabilities as agents of change and development in the communities in which they live and other activities.

To this end, all innovate ideas which will make this day memorable and will include other stakeholders, such as your Government, a UN agency, an NGO/DPO or a community will be more than welcome. UN will showcase them on their website to inform and inspire others to do the same. People, who are interested, are encouraged to send an e-mail to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

The main topic of 2011 International Day of Persons with Disabilities aims to promote inclusion of people with disabilities in development aid according to the Articel 32 of the United Nations Convetnion on the Rights of People with Disabilities which binds state parties to ensure that "international cooperation, including international development programmes, is inclusive of and accessible to persons with disabilities."

Implementation of this article was directly addressed by a project carried out by Inclusion Europe together with its member associations Mencap (United Kingdom) and Lebenshilfe (Germany) entitled "Full Inclusion in Development Aid for People with Intellectual Disabilities and their Families". Organisations of people with intellectual disabilities and their families in Europe have significant expertise in creation of support services and organisation of inclusive policies. In roder to mobilise these resources, an Inclusive Development Toolkit has been developed by this project in order to serve as an ultimate resource for local and national disability NGOs interested to get involved in the development cooperation projects.

For more information on the International day of Persons with Disabilities, you can visit the website of Enable UN.

 Source: Enable UN