International Day of Persons with Disabilities

What is International Day of Persons with Disabilities?

International Day of Persons with Disabilities is an annual event devoted to raising awareness about the experiences of people with disabilities and to promoting their wellbeing and rights.

The focus of the day encompasses people with physical, sensory, cognitive, intellectual, and other disabilities. Observance often involves educational events. These often highlight the unique barriers they face to inclusion in all parts of life, including work and healthcare, among many others.

Note: While the name of the day uses the phrase persons with disabilities, not all people prefer such phrasing, with some instead preferring disabled people or other terms. Phrasing like persons with disabilities is often referred to as person-first language, while disabled persons is an example of what’s often called identity-first language. Person-first language literally mentions the person first, before any characteristics, as a way of avoiding defining people by such characteristics. Preferences for phrasing considered identity-first language are often based on the idea that such characteristics are an inherent and important part of a person’s identity that should be valued put first (especially in order to avoid any implication that such characteristics are a negative). It’s always best to use the terms that an individual person prefers.