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.

The International Day of Persons with Disabilities re-affirms and draws attention to the rights of people who live with disabilities. ©iStockphoto.com/Rich Legg

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.

International Day of Persons with Disabilities Observances