PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES DESERVE IMPROVED LIVES
The first three days of the month of December each succeeding year are of considerable significance to humanity in this day and age – thanks to the United Nations Organisation (UN) and its supportive institutions. For starters, December 1 was proclaimed World Aids Day beginning in 1988. This was initiated by the World Health Organisation of the UN as a Day on which people worldwide unite to fight the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) that causes Aids.
December 1 is also when the world shows support for people living with HIV/Aids, and commemorate those who have died from HIV-related causes. On the other hand, December 2 was proclaimed by the UN as the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery (IDAS), organised since 1986 by the United Nations General Assembly.
Basically, the focus of IDAS is “on eradicating contemporary forms of slavery, such as trafficking in persons; the worst forms of child labour; forced labour, generally; forced marriages and sexual exploitation, as well as the forced recruitment of children for use in armed conflict”.
And today, December 3, is International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD). Commemoration of IDPD was formally proclaimed in 1992 by the UN General Assembly Resolution number 47/3 to “mobilise support for critical issues relating to the inclusion of persons with disabilities; promote awareness-raising about disability issues, and draw attention to the benefits of an inclusive and accessible society for all”.
Persons with disabilities (PWDs) “include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which, in interaction with various barriers, may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others”.
This is according to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities that was adopted at the UN Headquarters in New York on December 13, 2006.
A billion people
The United Nations also estimated at about a billion people – or roughly 15 percent of the total world population – were living with disabilities of one sort or another across the world in 2020.
And, according to a report of the US Bureau of Labour Statistics dated February 24, 2021, “In 2020, 17.9 percent of (Americans) with a disability were in income-generating employment, down from 19.3 percent in 2019”.
In Tanzania, the Tanzania Federation of Disabled People’s Organisations/Shirikisho la Vyama vya Watuwenye Ulemavu Tanzania (Shivyawata) takes a leading role in organising commemoration of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities on December 3 of each succeeding year.
Known simply as International Disability Day in Tanzania, past and current/ongoing activities were/are spearheaded by Shivyawata, working in close collaboration with the Tanzania Albino Society; Handicap International; Action on Disability and Development International; the Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network; the Finish Evangelical Lutheran Mission; the Tanzanian government – and many other institutions – to make IPDP a success.
It is surmised that global pandemics combine with non-communicable diseases and other maladies to add to the numbers of PWDs.
Hence the dire need to move heaven and earth – and everything else in-between – not only to make the lives of PWDs much easier and comfortable, but also to significantly limit their numbers and sufferings.
