3 December 2013
Celebrating International Day of Persons with Disability
Australian Aid program’s Pacific Senior Advocate for Disability Inclusive Development, John Davidson reminds us why the International Day of Persons with Disability is so important.
As the Australian Aid Program’s Pacific Senior Advocate for Disability Inclusive Development, I’d like to remind us all that today, Tuesday 3 December, is the International Day of Persons with Disability. This day is a celebration of the lives and achievements of over one billion people worldwide living with some form of disability.
Many people would ask: why celebrate or commemorate this day? 3 December is not about celebrating disability, but instead about celebrating all that is possible for people with disability, and all that they are capable of: focusing on their abilities and not the disability.
Today, I’d like us all to celebrate the great achievements of people with disability particularly the great work that our Disabled Persons Organisation (DPO) partners are doing in advocating for and creating awareness of the rights of persons with disability.
‘Nothing about us without us’, the bedrock of the disability rights movement, is still the guiding force behind all their actions. Even though this philosophy is talked about so much, there’s still a long way to go before everyone actually practices it. If we want true emancipation of people with disabilities, we will have to move beyond the rhetoric and the tokenism.
Living with a disability is not a scholarship to a good life, but is certainly a path for learning to value our lives. So on December 3rd we don’t celebrate disability, but the ability that is hidden within, and makes uniquely able all of those who live with a disability.
Why Australia is supporting disability inclusion in the Pacific?
On 30 March 2007, Australia signed the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability (CRPD) as one of the original signatories on the day it was open for signature. On 17 July 2008, Australia ratified the CRPD in New York and it entered into force for Australia on 16 August 2008, one of the first Western countries to ratify the CRPD. This demonstrates Australia’s commitment to providing more opportunities for people with disability to enable them to participate fully in community life and be active citizens.
The Australian Aid Program’s Development for All Strategy aims to ensure people with disability are increasingly taking a central role in decision making, ensuring policies and programs are shaped to better take account of their needs.
The Australian Government is committed to pursuing development that includes and benefits people with disability. People with disability and their families are among the poorest and most marginalised members of society. They are more likely to experience socioeconomic disadvantage and face exclusion from education, health care, employment and political participation compared to people without disability.
Australia recognises that without prioritising people with disability in the work that we do, it will be impossible to reduce poverty and achieve sustainable and equitable national development.
Today I would also like to congratulate you all for all the achievements and progress that you have made in including and involving persons with disability in all aspects of your programs and the work that we do here in the Pacific. Australia is indeed playing a part in improving the lives of people with disability in the Pacific.
But there is still more that needs to be done - we cannot stop here. We need to build on and learn from our achievements to date, and act together to drive this change, through our work, for a more inclusive Pacific.
John Davidson
Minister Counsellor – Development, Australian High Commission, Fiji