International Day of Persons with Disabilities

United Nations' (UN) International Day of Persons with Disabilities is annually held on December 3 to focus on issues that affect people with disabilities worldwide.

This day was first observed on December 3, 1992. On December 18, 2007, the assembly changed the observance's name from the "International Day of Disabled Persons" to the "International Day of Persons with Disabilities". The new name was first used in 2008.

The theme this year is “Building Back Better: toward a disability-inclusive, accessible and sustainable post COVID-19 World”.

When launching the United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy in June 2019, the Secretary-General stated that the United Nations should lead by example and raise the Organization’s standards and performance on disability inclusion—across all pillars of work, from headquarters to the field.

The United Nations 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.

People with disabilities are disproportionately affected by the health, social and economic consequences of the global COVID-19 pandemic. The global predicament of COVID-19 is excavating pre-existing inequalities, exposing the degree of exclusion, and underlining that work on disability inclusion is imperative. People with disabilities—one billion people are one of the most excluded groups in our society and are among the stiffest hit in this crisis in terms of fatalities.