To provide an opportunity for governments, organizations of disabled persons, and all in society to focus on the freedoms and potentials of persons with disabilities, International Day of Disabled Persons is observed on December 3 each year.

The theme for 2009, “Realigning the Millennium Development Goals for All: Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities and their Communities Around the World,’’ stresses the need to develop programs that raise the profile of disability issues in both the developed and developing world and identify existing needs and priorities, and calls for greater efforts to find solutions which are suited to the technological and economic conditions of the disabled. These actions require people with disabilities to be visible and to be given a voice that will qualify them to be adequately represented in decision making.

Disability, a physical, sensory, or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, affects 15 to 20 percent of every country’s population. The proportion of persons with disabilities keeps increasing due to the large incidence of poverty, lack of occupational health and safety, poor pre-natal care, poor road and traffic management, civil conflicts, and landmines. Conflict and poverty continue to cause high rates of disability in the less developed world while the incidence of disability is increasing in the industrialized world as populations age.

The World Health Organization estimates that there are at least 650 million people with disabilities worldwide. The realities of disability are alarming in Asia where 400 million are estimated to live. Most of the disabled remain invisible, unreported in national censuses and surveys. Less than 5 percent of children with disabilities attend school. Women and girls suffer double discrimination and have less access to education than males. People with disabilities are poor because they are denied access and opportunities basic to human development. Too often their lives are handicapped by physical and social barriers in society which hamper their participation.

People with disabilities have the capacity to become productive citizens and positively contribute to the development of nations. The short-term costs of educating and integrating persons with disabilities will be surpassed by the long-term savings to families and societies.

Removing barriers for persons with disabilities will ensure obstacle-free and enabling environments which will allow the disabled to be part of mainstream society.

The disabled deserve quality of life and dignity and the same rights and quality of services as other citizens of the country. Countries would enjoy large productivity gains and economic returns when disabled people are allowed to develop their skills and intellectual and physical potential, and engage in economic activities.