International day of disabled persons was started celebrating internationally on 3rd of December every year and promoted as an international observance by the United Nations from 1992. The day was greatly emphasized to celebrate it yearly in order to promote the awareness about the people with disabilities as well as to encourage them by implementing a lot of assistance in their real life to enhance their way of life and remove the social stigma towards them. Since 1992, it has been celebrated continuously every year till this year with a lot of success all over the world.
The vital purpose of this day celebration is to improve the understandings of the people worldwide towards the people with disability issues as well as get together to support them to improve their self-esteem, well-being and rights in the society. It also looks for to involve all the persons with disabilities in the society in each facet of life such as the political, economic, social and cultural.
That’s why it is celebrated by the title of “International Day of Disabled Persons”. Every year celebration of the international day of disabled persons focuses on the different issues of the disabled persons all across the world.
International Day of Disabled Persons 2019
International day of disabled persons 2019 will be observed on Tuesday, the 3rd of December.
The United Nations Staff Union, the Department of General Assembly and Conference Management, Office of Human Resources Management and Office of Central Support Services jointly celebrated a series of events in the UN headquarters on the 03rd December. Various seminars, conferences, workshops and presentations were organised to commemorate the day.
Many social and nonprofit organizations conducted various campaigns and events. Two of the NGOs in Mumbai joined hands to celebrate the day with an event named ‘STRIDE-2018 – Walk with Dignity’ where person with disabilities showcased their talents on the stage. They also got a chance to walk with professional models on the ramp.
The International Day of Disabled Persons 2018 Theme is “Empowering persons with disabilities and ensuring inclusiveness and equality”. This theme aims to empower individuals with disabilities so that they can get a sustainable and equitable development. The Secretary General of the United Nations launched the first ever report on disability and development this year which will help the sustainable global agenda for the persons with disability.
History of the International Day of Disabled Persons
The year 1981 was announced as the “International Year of Disabled Persons” by the United Nations General Assembly in the year 1976. It was planned to emphasize the rehabilitation, prevention, promotion and equalization of opportunities for the persons with disabilities at the international, regional and national levels.
The theme decided for the celebration of international year of disabled persons was “full participation and equality”, to aware the people about the rights of disabled persons for their equal development in the societies, to emphasize the well being living for them as equal to normal citizens, and to improve their socio-economic condition.
The years from 1983-1992 was declared as the “United Nations Decade of Disabled Persons” by the United Nations General Assembly in order to offer the time frame to the Governments and other organizations so that they could properly implement all the recommended activities.
Themes for Celebrating the International Day of Disabled Persons
The celebration of the international day of disabled persons require an effective theme in order to get implemented properly the rules and regulations in the society for the disabled person. Following themes are the year wise themes of the international day of disabled persons celebrations are listed below:
> The theme of 2018 was “Empowering persons with disabilities and ensuring inclusiveness and equality”
> The theme of 2017 was “Transformation towards sustainable and resilient society for all”.
> The theme of 2016 was “Achieving 17 Goals for the Future We Want”.
> The theme of the year 2015 was “Inclusion matters: access and empowerment for people of all abilities”.
> The theme of the year 2014 was “Sustainable Development: The Promise of Technology”.
> The theme of the year 2013 was “Break Barriers, Open Doors: for an inclusive society and development for all”.
> The theme of the year 2012 was the “Removing barriers to create an inclusive and accessible society for all”.
> The theme of the year 2011 was the “Together for a better world for all: Including persons with disabilities in development”.
> The theme of the year 2010 was the “Keeping the promise: Mainstreaming disability in the Millennium Development Goals towards 2015 and beyond”.
> The theme of the year 2009 was the “Making the MDGs Inclusive: Empowerment of persons with disabilities and their communities around the world”.
> The theme of the year 2008 was the “Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Dignity and justice for all of us”.
> The theme of the year 2007 was the “Decent Work for Persons with Disabilities”.
> The theme of the year 2006 was “E-Accessibility”.
> The theme of the year 2005 was the “Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Action in Development”.
> The theme of the year 2004 was the “Nothing about Us, Without Us”.
> The theme of the year 2003 was the “A Voice of our Own”.
> The theme of the year 2002 was the “Independent Living and Sustainable Livelihoods”.
> The theme of the year 2001 was the “Full participation and equality: The call for new approaches to assess progress and evaluate outcome”.
> The theme of the year 2000 was the “Making information technologies work for all”.
> The theme of the year 1999 was the “Accessibility for all for the new Millennium”.
> The theme of the year 1998 was the “Arts, Culture and Independent Living”.
How it is Celebrated
People from all around the world enthusiastically contribute to the celebration to actively promote the equal rights for disabled persons as well as to support and enhance their morality. This great event is celebrated by organizing the art exhibitions which promotes the artworks made by disabled people to show their abilities. People also involve in the protest activities in order to draw the people attention towards the difficulties of disabled people as well as increase the awareness about the precious roles of disabled people in the society.
Aim of Celebrating the International Day of Disabled Persons
> The crucial aim of celebrating this event is to increase the awareness and understanding of people towards the disability issues of disabled people.
> To support the disabled people to get their self-respect, rights, welfare and security in the society.
> To address all the issues of disabled person in all the aspects of life.
> To analyze whether the rules and regulations implemented by the government organizations are working and following well or not.
> To assist them with proper rehabilitation, offer equal opportunities, lessen poverty and encourage their role in the society.
> To focus on their health, well being, education and social dignity.
Why it is Necessary to Celebrate the International Day of Disabled Persons
Most of the people even do not known that how many people are disabled in the society around their houses. They are getting their equal rights like normal people in the society or not. They need some assistance by the normal people to rise in the life, to get dignity and life of well being. But, generally the people in the society never know all the needs of them. According to the record, it is found that approximately 15% of the total population of the world is disabled people.
So, it is very necessary to celebrate this event to get people aware about the real condition of the people with disabilities. People with the disabilities come under “the world’s largest minority” and faces a lot of obstructions in all the aspects of life because of the lack of proper resources and rights for them.
