3 ^rd December is an International Day for Persons with Disabilities. It’s celebrated all over the world to show care and love to both adults and children with disabilities. It was declined in the year 1992 by the United Nations General Assembly and it aims to promote an understanding of disability issues and mobilize support for the dignity, rights, and well-being of persons with disabilities. The International Day of Persons with Disabilities also seeks to increase awareness of gains to be derived from the integration of persons with disabilities in aspects of political, social, economic, and cultural life. Today the world population of over 7 billion people and more than one billion people or 15 percent of the world’s population live with some form of disability. And 80 percent live in developing countries.

The International Day for People with Disabilities is aimed at removing barriers not just physical or health care access even social barriers like stigma are key targets. There are several disabilities found in people around the world today that are not visible. The reason why they’re on the rise is because of the improvements in methodologies used to diagnose and measure disabilities and from an aging global population to the rapid spread of chronic disease.

These include mental health disorders, chronic pain and fatigue, traumatic brain injuries, neurological disorders, and intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Themes for the International Day for Persons with Disabilities have been changing over the years. Below are some of the themes as the years passed.

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 the 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
2006	E-accessibility
2007	Decent Work for Persons with Disabilities: Actions in Development
2008	Convection on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Dignity and justice for all of us
2009	Making the MDGs Inclusive: Empowerment of persons with disabilities and their communities around the world.
2010	Keeping the promise: Mainstreaming disability in the Millennium Development Goals toward 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 of people of all disabilities
2016	Achieving 17 Goals for the Future We Want
2017	Transformation towards a sustainable and resilient society for all
2018	Empowering persons with disabilities and ensuring inclusiveness and equality
2019	Promoting the participation of persons with disabilities and their leadership: taking action on the 2030 Development Agenda
2020	Building Back Better: toward a disability-

 

Over the years themes have been created to address the issue of people with disabilities and the 2021 theme is to “Leadership and participation of persons with disabilities toward an inclusive, accessible and sustainable post-COVID-19 world.” The theme is to advocate for persons with disabilities to be involved in the leadership sits across the globe. It calls upon country leaders to create positions where persons with disabilities can join freely without discrimination.

Uganda today joins the world to celebrate the International Day of Persons with Disabilities 2021 and the domesticated theme is “Not All Disabilities Are Visible: A Call for a stronger post-COVID-19 Agenda.” This is selected to draw to the invisible disabilities. This theme is in line with the principle of “leaving no one behind as highlighted in the Sustainable Development Goals framework.

The theme is aimed at strengthening and amplifying awareness for invisible disabilities and increasing mainstreaming of persons with invisible disabilities in all development planning processes, and empowering them to attain their full potential.

Government of Uganda has tried its best to promote the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in the following ways.

• The government of Uganda in the enactment of the Persons with Disabilities Act 2020 which provides protection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
• Education sponsorship program under the Joint Admission Board has increased the percentage of students with disabilities by 60%.
• Representation of Persons with Disabilities on Boards and Commissions.
• There is also a percentage allocation of funds for persons with disabilities under the Parish Development Model.
• The government has increased the special grant for persons with disabilities.

As I conclude, I wish to appreciate everyone who lays a hand out to help the Persons with Disabilities. As we celebrate the International Day of Persons with Disabilities let’s join efforts with Tuyambe Org, Volunteering in Uganda , and Love Uganda Foundation to provide basic needs to them. This can be done through volunteering, donations , and sponsorship. Let’s hail them as “differently-abled” and “not disabled”