International Day of Persons with Disabilities aka IDPD is commemorated annually on December 3rd and is a day of paramount importance to raise awareness on the strides that have been made towards inclusion and the challenges that still plague PWDs on a daily basis. We’ve told you the story about an inspiring young lady named Rudo and her tale of perseverance in her journey towards seeking education. If not, you can scroll further for the blog post we wrote detailing her story. Rudo was born with her legs “curled up”, an issue that 11 surgeries could not completely fix. She ended up not being able to go to school as there was no one to carry her the 2km to her school, however thanks to RN’s intervention, she is now in an inclusive boarding school in Monze and thriving.
The 2030 agenda for sustainable development pledges to “leave no one behind”, and “People with Disabilities” or “disability” are specifically mentioned 11 times in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Disability is included in goals 4, 8, 10, 11, and 17:
- Goal 4: Guaranteeing equal and accessible education by building inclusive learning environments and providing the needed assistance for persons with disabilities.
- Goal 8: Promoting inclusive economic growth, full and productive employment allowing persons with disabilities to fully access the job market.
- Goal 10: Emphasizing the social, economic, and political inclusion of persons with disabilities.
- Goal 11: Creating accessible cities and water resources, affordable, accessible, and sustainable transport systems, providing universal access to safe, inclusive, accessible, and green public spaces.
- Goal 17: Underlining the importance of data collection and monitoring of the Sustainable Development Goals, emphasis on disability disaggregated data.
It is imperative that we all join hands in the fight against discrimination and stigmatization of People and Children with Disabilities and push for inclusion in all aspects. As an organization, we are trying to do our part through in all our programs as well as the Together For Inclusion (TFI) project. This project engages children with and without disabilities and aims to utilize sport as a platform for advocacy for inclusion.
