Participants who mainly comprised of persons with disabilities at Monday's rally organized in Kathmandu to mark the 27th International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD) have univocally voiced for empowering them for inclusive equitable and sustainable development.
In the rally that started from the Academy Hall at Kamaladi, they had carried placards that displayed eloquent line such as 'Count me in', 'Ensure inclusiveness and equity for the persons with disabilities', 'Invest in sign language, production and mobilization of the sign language interpreters', 'Psycho-social disabilities is not a person's fault, it is a result of misconception and discrimination' and 'Implement the Acts on rights of persons with disabilities', among others.
IDPD has been observed annually on December 3 across the UN-member states. The theme for this year is 'Empowering persons with disabilities and ensuring inclusiveness and equality.'
Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizen and National Federation of Disabled, Nepal jointly organized an event marking the IDPD.
On the occasion, Minister for Women, Children and Senior Citizen Thammaya Thapa emphasized on the effective implementation of the Acts and laws formulated to ensure welfare of the persons with disabilities.
Minister Thapa reaffirmed that she was leaving no stone unturned to make provisions at policy –making for the equal participation of persons with disabilities in every State structure.
Federation President Sudarshan Subedi demanded effective implementation of the provisions to construct disable-friendly infrastructures.
He shared that the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, Ministry of Finances, Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizen, Kathmandu District Court among others had made disable-friendly infrastructures.
In the private sector, Chandragiri Hills Pvt Ltd, CTC Mall Sundhara, Grande Hospital at Tokha, Labim Mall at Pulchowk, Adharsha Saula Youth Secondary School and Nanglo Bakery Café at New Baneshower among others had infrastructures that had disable-friendly infrastructures.
The rally later ended in a corner meeting at the Office of the Social Welfare Council.
According to the latest census in 2011, there are 5,13,321 persons- 1.94 per cent of the total population-living with different kind of disabilities in the country.
Among them, persons with physical disability accounted for 36.6 per cent, persons with visual impairment at 16.5 per cent, hearing impairment at 15.4 per cent.
Similarly, persons with verbal disability accounts for 11.5 per cent. Persons with mental retardation constituted 6 per cent and those with multiple disabilities at 7.5 per cent, according to the census.
Likewise, the World Health Organization's statistic shows that more than one billion people, or approximately 15 per cent of the world's population, live with some form of disability while 80 per cent of them live in developing countries.
