United Nations (UN)’s International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD) or International Day of Disabled Persons is annually observed across the globe on December 3 to raise awareness about the situation of persons with disabilities in all aspects of political, social, economic, and cultural life.
- The day aims to promote the rights and well-being of people with disabilities at all levels.
The theme of International Day of Persons with Disabilities 2022 is ‘Transformative solutions for inclusive development: the role of innovation in fueling an accessible and equitable world’.
Background:
i. The UN General Assembly (UNGA) adopted the resolution A/RES/47/3 on 14th October 1992 and declared December 3 of every year as International Day of Disabled Persons.
- The 1st observance of International Day of Disabled Persons was on 3rd December 1992.
ii. On 18 December 2007, the UN renamed the International Day of Disabled Persons as the International Day of Persons with Disabilities under the ‘Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities(CRPD) [A/RES/62/127]’.
iii. The 1st observance of the new name, International Day of Persons with Disabilities, was on 3rd December 2008.
Disability:
i. A disability is any physical or mental condition (impairment) that makes it more difficult for a person to undertake specific activities and interact with the environment around them (participation restrictions).
ii. There are many different types of disabilities, such as those that affect a person’s Communicating, Hearing, Mental health, Vision and more.
iii. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), disability has 3 dimensions: Impairment, Activity limitation, and Participation restrictions.
WHO Global report on Health Equity for Persons with Disabilities 2022:
i. According to the WHO’s report titled “Global Report on Health Equity for Persons with Disabilities” an estimated 1.3 billion people (16%) of the global population, experience a significant disability.
ii. WHO has developed the Global Report on Health Equity for Persons with Disabilities in response to the request mentioned in the resolution WHA74.8 on the highest attainable standard of health for persons with disabilities by the UN Member States at the 74th World Health Assembly in 2021.
- The report aims to raise awareness about health equity for people with disabilities and motivate action from a range of stakeholders.
iii. To mark the release of the global report, a hybrid event (face-to-face at WHO Headquarters and broadcast online) is proposed to commemorate the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.
National Awards for Outstanding Work towards Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities:
On 3rd December 2022, the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan), Union Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, organised a ceremony to celebrate the ‘International Day of Persons with Disabilities’ at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi, Delhi.
- The President of India, Droupadi Murmu attended as the Chief Guest.
i. The National Awards for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, 2021 & 2022 was conferred on 3rd December 2022.
ii.Droupadi Murmu, President of India, conferred the annual National Awards on individuals, institutions, organisations and state/district, etc., for their outstanding achievements and worked towards the empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (PwDs).
National Awards for the Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities
i. Until 2017, the Award Scheme was administered by the National Awards Rules, 2013, which established 7 categories of disability in accordance with the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995.
- However, with the implementation of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, on April 19, 2017, the number of identified disabilities grew from 7 to 21 under the new law.
- As a result, all 21 disabilities have been included in the National Award Guidelines, which were published in the Extraordinary Gazette of India on August 2, 2018.
ii. National Awards for 2021 were given to 25 Individuals out of 844 applications, Institutions and Organizations.
iii. In 2022, the National Awards were presented to 29 Individuals out of 1,210 applications, Institutions and Organisations for their outstanding achievements and work towards empowering Persons with Disabilities.
