Let’s start by sharing some facts and figures.

Did you know that 15% of the world’s population, that’s 1 billion people around the world, or 1 in 7 of the total population, have some form of disability. Of those more than 80 percent live in developing countries. Less than 30% of persons with significant disabilities have access to benefits; in low-income countries, the number is only 1%!

Aiming to raise standards and performance on disability inclusion the United Nations officially launched the first ever United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy in June 2019. This strategy is a framework for action by the whole UN System, applicable across all areas of the UN’s work worldwide, promoting collaboration across UN offices, specialised agencies, UN country teams, regional commissions and the UN Secretariat. It’s a commitment to people with disabilities worldwide to support sustainable change and address challenges faced by persons with disabilities in the most vulnerable areas in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America.

The United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy is setting out key areas where progress was necessary; specifically, the strategy calls for action in four core areas of responsibility: leadership, strategic planning and management; inclusiveness; programming; and organisational culture. 

Senior UN officials also pointed out the lack of availability of high-quality, timely and reliable data, related to disability inclusion, the need to develop disability-specific policies or strategies as well as the need for further resources calling for governments to make disability inclusion a priority within their national budgets.

According to UN Secretary-General António Guterres the new U.N. Disability Inclusion Strategy is the ‘transformative change we need’ and he expressed his intention for the UN to become ‘an employer of choice’ for persons with disabilities.

Disability inclusion is also a central element of the inclusive 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development, which pledges to ‘leave no one behind’, specially persons with disabilities.

Disability is not only recognized as an issue on several parts of the 2030 Agenda but is referred to in the following areas of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): education, growth and employment, inequality, and accessibility of human settlements, as well as data collection and monitoring of the SDGs.

UCC is actively looking into ways at providing greater support for people with disabilities, especially during those challenging times. In line with this, should you be or know of any mid career professionals, students and/or Alumni who require additional level of support for their careers we would be greatly interested to talk with you to explore options on what we can do. Please get in touch with one of our professional UN insiders.

Our UCC expert UN insider advice is available to everybody.

Read UCCs blog post where we share our findings on how the coronavirus affected people with disabilities and why the newly launched United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy is now more vital and timely then ever!