International Day of Disabled Persons 2020: Know about its theme, history and significance

The annual observance of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD) is followed around the globe on December 3. First established by the United Nations General Assembly resolution 47/3 in 1992, the day is celebrated as a “day for all”. IDPD also aims to spread awareness of the situation in every aspect of social, political, economic and cultural life. 

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Theme for IDPD 2020

The annual theme provides an overreaching focus on how society can strive for inclusivity through the removal of physical, technological and attitudinal barriers for people with disability. The theme for IDPD 2020 is “Building Back Better: toward a disability-inclusive, accessible and sustainable post-COVID-19 world”. This theme reflects a growing understanding that disability is part of the human condition and almost everyone will be temporarily or permanently impaired at some point in life. 

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, "As the world recovers from the pandemic, we must ensure that the aspirations and rights of persons with disabilities are included and accounted for in a -inclusive, accessible and sustainable post COVID-19 world. This vision will only be achieved through active consultation with persons with disabilities and their representative organizations”. 

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History of #DisabilitiesDay 

The UNGA in 1976 proclaimed 1981 as the International Year of Disabled Person. A plan of action at the National, regional and international levels, was called for. The main objective for the IDPD was rehabilitation and prevention of disabilities and equalisation of opportunities. 1983-1992 was also proclaimed the UN Decade of Disabled Persons by the General Assembly. It was done in a bid to provide a definite time frame wherein governments and organisations would implement the undertakings recommended in the World Programme of Action. 

Significance of World Disability Day 

Out of nearly seven billion people around one billion people live with some form of disability, meaning approximately 15 per cent of the entire world’s population and 80 per cent live in the developing countries. Persons with disabilities are the “world’s largest minority” and they generally have poorer health, fewer economic opportunities, lower education achievements and higher rates of poverty compared to people without disabilities. A person with a disability faces many obstacles, including those resulting from legislation or policy, those relating to the physical environment, or from societal attitudes or discrimination.

Therefore, accessibility is necessary to accomplish progress and a detriment to society as a whole. The UN 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.

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