International Day of People with Disabilities 2023

Since its inception in 1945, the United Nations (UN) has outlined and reiterated its commitment to calling for the creation of inclusive, accessible and sustainable societies and communities – most notably with the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. Over time, the UN has honed its focus on promoting the well-being and welfare of people living with disabilities, and in 1992 called for an international day of celebration for people living with disabilities to be held on December 3 each year.

International Day of People with Disabilities is not owned by the UN – it is owned by everyone: people, organisations, agencies, charities, places of learning – all of whom have a vital role to play in identifying and addressing discrimination, marginalization, exclusion and inaccessibility that many people living with disabilities face. International Day of People with Disabilities is one day on the international calendar, yet it symbolizes the actions we should take every day, in order to create diverse and accepting communities.

What is IDPWD for?

•  Celebration – to recognize and value the diversity of our global community, and to cherish the role we all play, regardless of our abilities;

•   Learning – to understand and learn from the experiences of people with living with a disability;
•   It is a day for optimism – to look towards the future and the creation of a world where a person is not characterised by their disabilities, but by their abilities;
• Action – where all people, organisations, agencies and charities not only show their support for International Day of People with Disabilities, but take on a commitment to create a world characterised by equal human rights.

IDPWD Objectives

• Educating people within the community around barriers to inclusion;
• Providing opportunities for supported education/ training/ volunteerism and employment for people with disability;
• Providing social and personal support to people living with disabilty;
• The provision of transport services to people with disability to support inclusion and participation within the community;
• Social enterprise grants: funds generated by IDPWD go in part towards the creation of social
• Enterprise grants which support the creation of social trading businesses.

Find out more about International Day of People with Disabilities here