The whole world benefits when everyone is included

“Disability inclusion is central to the promise of the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development. When we remove policies or biases or obstacles to opportunity for persons with disabilities, the whole world benefits,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said earlier this year when he addressed the 12th session of the Conference of State Parties (COSP) to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). 

Today, one billion people, or 15 per cent of the world’s population, experience some form of disability. Recent data show that persons with disabilities are more likely to live in poverty than persons without disabilities due to barriers in society such as discrimination, limited access to education and employment and lack of inclusion in livelihood and other social programmes. 

To change this, and to make sure that everyone is included regardless of ability, leaving no one behind, the world made a promise by adopting 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These 17 goals provide powerful guidance to local communities, countries and the international community to ensure that our development efforts are disability-inclusive. 

It is against this backdrop that UN DESA is commemorating the International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD) this year focusing on the theme “Promoting the participation of persons with disabilities and their leadership: taking action on the 2030 Development Agenda”. The theme centers around the empowerment of persons with disabilities for inclusive, equitable and sustainable development as envisioned in the 2030 Agenda, which pledges to ‘leave no one behind’. 

To read more visit: https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/social/international-day-of-persons-with-disabilities-2019.html 

Originally published by UN DESA.