International Day of Persons with Disabilities - December 03

The annual observance of the International Day of Disabled Persons was proclaimed in 1992, by the  UN General Assembly Resolution 47/3

 It aims to promote the rights and well-being of persons with disabilities in all spheres of society and development, and to increase awareness of the situation of persons with disabilities in every aspect of political, social, economic and cultural life.

Each year the day focuses on a different issue

Themes from previous years

• 1998: "Arts, Culture and Independent Living"
• 1999: "Accessibility for all for the new Millennium"
• 2000: "Making information technologies work for all"
• 2001: "Full participation and equality: The call for new approaches to assess progress and evaluate outcome"
• 2002: "Independent Living and Sustainable Livelihoods"
• 2003: "A Voice of our Own"
• 2004: "Nothing About Us Without Us"
• 2005: "Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Action in Development"
• 2006: "E-Accessibility"
• 2007: "Decent Work for Persons with Disabilities"
• 2008: "Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Dignity and justice for all of us"
• 2009: "Making the MDG's Inclusive: Empowerment of persons with disabilities and their communities around the world"
• 2010: "Keeping the promise: Mainstreaming disability in the Millennium Development Goals towards 2015 and beyond"
• 2011: "Together for a better world for all: Including persons with disabilities in development"
• 2012: "Removing barriers to create an inclusive and accessible society for all"
• 2013: "Break Barriers, Open Doors: for an inclusive society and development for all"
• 2014: "Sustainable development: The promise of technology"
• 2015: " Inclusion matters: access and empowerment for people of all abilities"
• 2016: "Achieving 17 Goals for the future we want"