International Day Of Persons With Disabilities 2025: Date, History, Theme And Significance

International Day of Persons with Disabilities 2025: Every year, December 3 is observed as International Day of Persons with Disabilities or World Disability Day. The day is meant to promote understanding of disability issues and mobilise support for the dignity, rights and well-being of persons with disabilities. As per the United Nations, approximately 1.3 billion individuals globally live with a disability, but the majority of them encounter significant barriers to healthcare access because current health systems do not incorporate their specific needs. These substantial financial gaps frequently lead to economic hardship, pushing affected individuals and their families further into poverty and social exclusion.

International Day of Persons with Disabilities: Date and History

This year, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities falls on Wednesday (Nov 3). It was first observed worldwide in 1992, following its proclamation by the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 47/3.

After decades of efforts, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) was adopted in 2006 with 193 countries ratifying the CRPD. It seeks to provide equality of opportunity for people with disabilities by implementing the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. Notably, seven targets of the SDGs explicitly refer to persons with disabilities.

People with disabilities drive progress that benefits us all. Yet too often, they are denied a seat at the decision-making table.

When inclusion is real, everyone benefits. Let's commit to working side-by-side with people with disabilities to build more resilient societies.

— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) December 3, 2025

International Day of Persons with Disabilities 2025 Theme

The theme for World Disability Day 2025 is "Fostering disability inclusive societies for advancing social progress", which aims to reaffirm the commitment to create a more just, inclusive, equitable, and sustainable world for all.

"It also seeks to increase awareness of gains to be derived from the integration of persons with disabilities in every aspect of political, social, economic and cultural life," the United Nations said in a statement.

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What Disability Means?

A disability is a condition or function judged to be significantly impaired relative to the usual standard of an individual of their group. The term is often used to refer to individual functioning, including physical impairment, sensory impairment, cognitive impairment, intellectual impairment, mental illness, and various types of chronic disease.