International Day of People with Disability
International Day of People with Disability
International Day of People with Disability is celebrated on 3 December every year since 1992. The day is celebrated to encourage the world to understand people affected with a disability and to raise an awareness on involving such people into everyday life. The day not only focuses on physical or mental disabilities, but rather blankets all known disabilities starting from Down Syndrome to Multiple Sclerosis. History of International Day of People with Disability
The idea came about in the year 1976 when the United Nations General Assembly decided that the year 1981 should be celebrated as the International Year for Disabled People. However, the time before the actual event was spent on contemplating the hardships faced by disabled people and how to better their lives.
During this time, another prominent issue that world governments touched upon was ways to go about preventing disabilities among people and to spread awareness about several viruses. Between the years 1983 to 1992 it was proclaimed as the United Nations Decade of Disabled Persons and all the concepts that were discovered previously became parts of a process that was implemented in order to improve the lives of disabled people.
How is the day celebrated?
Since 1992, a variety of events have been held in benefit of International Day of People with Disability. The United Nations assigns themes every year. For example, the 2013 theme ‘Break Barriers, Open Doors’ focussed on several aspects that made disabled people access society with options where buildings were equipped with elevators in the braille language.
The theme for 2018 "Transformation towards a sustainable and resilient society for all" will focus on involving disabled people in planning, design and implementation of policies and programmes that impact their lives. The theme will look at ways of creating usable technologies, facilities and other service related products that will help them overcome their challenge of exclusion in the society.
How do we celebrate World Disability Day?
Smaller communities celebrate the day by holding discussions, campaigns and forums to discuss the problems pertaining to disabled people. Several organisations and committees come together to organise meetings, talks and plays to educate people about the common problems faced by disabled people in their daily life.
Street plays and musicals are also held to discuss the life story of disabled people. Several schools and educational institutions also hold seminars and conferences to discuss ways by which the lives of disabled people can be improved so that they too can have equal opportunities like the rest of the world.
Do you know of any such activities? Or, is your school organising such a activity? The, write to us at vibha@greycaps.com.
