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.
What Do People Do?
People from many countries worldwide participate in various ways to
promote the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. Events may
include art exhibitions promoting artwork by people with disabilities.
Other events take the form of protests to highlight the difficulties
disabled people have in playing a full role in society.
Public Life
The International Day of Persons with Disabilities is a global observance and not a public holiday.
Background
The United Nations Decade of Disabled Persons was held from 1983 to
1992 to enable governments and organizations to implement measures to
improve the life of disabled persons all over the world. On October 14,
1992, as this decade drew to a close, the UN General Assembly proclaimed
December 3 as the International Day of Disabled Persons. 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.
Symbols
The International Day of Persons with Disabilities is coordinated by
United Nations Enable, which works to support and promote the rights and
dignity of persons with disabilities. The symbol of Enable is the blue
UN symbol and the word "enable". The UN symbol consists of an azimuthal
equidistant projection of the globe centered on the North Pole
surrounded by olive branches. The word "enable" is written entirely in
lower case letters. The letter "e" is red and the other letters are
blue.
