Every year on December 3, the global community observes the International Day of Persons with Disabilities — a day created to honor the rights, dignity, and experiences of disabled people worldwide. It is a moment to reflect on how far we’ve come, to name the inequities that remain, and to recommit ourselves to building societies where disabled people can live, participate, and lead without barriers.
The United Nations and the World Health Organization describe this day as an opportunity to promote the rights and well-being of persons with disabilities at every level of society and development. It urges us to raise awareness of the political, social, economic, and cultural inequities disabled people face, and to ensure full, equal, and effective participation in society. This framing aligns deeply with Disability Justice — a movement grounded in the understanding that freedom for disabled people requires dismantling the systems that marginalize us and building new ones rooted in equity, care, and collective power.
This year’s theme, fostering disability-inclusive societies for advancing social progress, calls us to interrogate what inclusion actually means — and what it must become if we want a liberated future.
Why Disability Inclusion Must Be Non-Negotiable
Across the globe, disabled people continue to navigate systems that were never designed for us. Healthcare remains inaccessible or unaffordable. Voting and civic participation are often blocked by physical, technological, and bureaucratic barriers. Employment discrimination persists at staggering rates. Public safety systems frequently endanger, rather than protect, Black, brown, and Indigenous disabled people.
These inequities are not inevitable — they are manufactured. They are the result of policies, institutions, and narratives shaped without disabled people in the room.
For Black, brown, and Indigenous disabled communities, the harm is compounded. The intersections of race, disability, gender, and class fuel disparities that limit access to care, reduce life expectancy, and restrict opportunities for political and economic stability. These barriers do not reflect individual shortcomings; they reflect societal choices.
When disabled people — especially disabled people of color — are excluded from decision-making spaces, society loses access to our creativity, leadership, and solutions. Disability Justice teaches us that the people most impacted by injustice hold the wisdom needed to transform it.
Inclusion Requires Action, Not Awareness
Awareness alone has never been enough. A society that merely “acknowledges” disability without redistributing power or redesigning harmful systems isn’t inclusive — it’s performative.
True disability inclusion requires:
Designing with disabled people, not after the fact.
Access cannot be an add-on. It must be embedded from the beginning.
Investing in disabled communities.
Funding, resources, and support must reflect the depth of need and the value of our leadership.
Centering lived experience as essential knowledge.
Disabled people’s insights are not optional — they are foundational to justice and progress.
Removing barriers in every area of life.
Healthcare, transportation, education, housing, voting, employment, and community spaces must be accessible to all.
As WHO emphasizes, securing the rights of people with disabilities means ensuring we can “participate fully, equally and effectively in society with others, and face no barriers in all aspects of our lives.” That must be our baseline.
Where We Go From Here
International Day of Persons with Disabilities offers both clarity and direction: we honor the work that has brought us to this moment, and we take stock of what remains. We reflect on the barriers that persist, the systems still in need of transformation, and the power our communities continue to cultivate despite them.
As we move forward, we hold several truths:
- Disability inclusion must be transformational, not symbolic.
- Disabled people — particularly Black and brown disabled communities — are essential to imagining and creating just futures.
- Collaboration and collective care remain central to our liberation.
- The work of Disability Justice is ongoing, expansive, and deeply rooted in lived experience.
To our community members:
Your leadership and vision continue to guide this movement. Your stories reveal not only the realities of discrimination but the depth of brilliance that emerges in the face of systemic injustice.
To our allies and partners:
Your solidarity matters. Keep expanding your understanding, redistributing your resources, and reshaping your practices with access at the center.
To those still learning:
Welcome in. This movement needs your curiosity, your accountability, and your willingness to grow.
A Disability-Inclusive Future Is Possible — And Disabled People Will Lead Us There
As we honor this day, we ground ourselves in both truth and possibility. Disabled people deserve a future where our communities are fully resourced, deeply valued, and woven into every part of society. Not as an afterthought, not as an accommodation — but as an essential part of any vision for justice.
The commitments we carry today — to access, to equity, to community power — will continue to guide the work ahead in 2026 and beyond.
A disability-inclusive future is not only possible — it’s already in motion. And disabled people are leading the way.
You can download our accompanying resource guide here.
