International Day of People with Disabilities: Celebrating voices

On the 3rd December, we’re joining people around the world to mark International Day of People with Disabilities (IDPD).

IDPD is an annual opportunity to celebrate the contributions people with disabilities make but also to highlight the barriers many people still face around the world. Listening and learning from the experiences of people with disabilities is crucial in order to achieve an inclusive, fairer world for everybody. The theme for this year’s IDPD is #BetterWorldforAll.

Coronavirus and disability

The Coronavirus pandemic and restrictions to prevent the spread of the virus have exacerbated many of the existing barriers that people with disabilities face around the world, restricting their ability to go out to work and earn a living and leaving many unable to access the carers, health services and medication that they need.

Earlier this year, we launched Coronavirus: My Story, a new campaign sharing the experiences of people living with disabilities around the world during the Coronavirus pandemic. These eight short video diaries from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nepal and Zimbabwe, give a snapshot into some of the range of challenges being faced by people with disabilities – but they also show how people with disabilities and their representative organisations are playing a valuable role in responding to the crisis.

Watch the videos here (open link in new tab):

Coronavirus: My Story transcript (open link in new tab)

Promoting disability rights

This IDPD, we’re delighted to launch three new films showing how we work alongside Disability Organisations to support and equip people with disabilities to speak up and campaign for their rights.

The films introduce Christine, Derrick and Simon, who took part in a CBM-supported training programme in Uganda, funded by the National Lottery Community Fund (open link in new tab). In the films, they reflect on their own experiences of exclusion and how the training will help them to campaign for disability rights.

Christine is the Executive Director for Ugandan National Association of Cerebral Palsy. Thanks to the Bridge training, Christine now calls herself an ‘Inclusive Activist’ and works with all people with disabilities to stand up for their rights.

Disability activists: Christine transcript (open link in new tab)

Derrick is a member of the Ugandan Down’s Syndrome Association and thanks to the Bridge training he now feels confident to speak up for the rights of all people with disabilities in his community.

Disability Activists Derrick transcript (open link in new tab)

Simon works with the Source of the Nile Union of Persons with Albinism and now acts as an advocate across Uganda campaigning for the rights of people with Albinism.

Disability Activists: Simon transcript (open link in new tab)

Bridge CRPD-SDGs Training Initiative (open link in new tab) is an intensive training programme developed by the International Disability Alliance and International Disability and Development Consortium for organisations of persons with disabilities, covering the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CPRD) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to reinforce their advocacy for inclusion and realisation of rights of persons with disabilities.

Photo: CBM staff delivering food packages to men, women and children living with disabilities in Borna State, Nigeria , as part of our COVID-19 emergency response programme.