International Day of Persons with Disabilities

What is the day about?

International Day of Persons with Disabilities aims to “promote the rights and well-being of persons with disabilities in all spheres of society and development, and to increase awareness of the situation of persons with disabilities in every aspect of political, social, economic and cultural life.”

Employers can make a big difference in the lives of disabled people by adopting inclusive policies and practices. This event is a great opportunity for organisations to review how much they know about the disabled community, what they are doing to support disability inclusion and the business opportunities of inclusion. See the How to celebrate this event in the workplace section to learn more.

When does this event take place?

International Day of Persons with Disabilities takes place annually on 3 December. The 2025 theme is “Fostering disability-inclusive societies for advancing social progress.”

Why was this day created?

International Day of Persons with Disabilities was created by the United Nations in 1992 because the organisation recognises that globally disabled people tend to have:

• Poorer health
• Lower education achievements
• Fewer economic opportunities
• Higher rates of poverty

The United Nations have concluded that this is due to a lack of services available to disabled people, inaccessibility, discrimination, societal attitudes towards disability and legislation and policy. These statistics are also reflected in the UK because according to the disability charity Scope:

• The UK disability employment gap is 29%
• The employment rate of disabled people is 53% compared to 82% of non-disabled people (meaning disabled people are almost twice as likely to be unemployed as non-disabled people)
• The average disabled household faces £975 a month in extra costs

Disabled people face barriers to employment even though organisations that employ disabled people tend to outperform other businesses. For example, the Accenture report found that companies that seek to employ disabled people generate 1.6 times more revenue.

The Purple Tuesday campaign also shows that disabled customers and their families are more likely to support organisations with great accessibility, inclusive customer service and a commitment to supporting disabled employees.

If your organisation would like to learn more about how you can support disability inclusion to benefit from a more inclusive workplace culture, see the How to celebrate this event in the workplace section for ways to celebrate International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

Facts you should know

Here are a few quick International Day of Persons with Disabilities facts to know:

• You can learn about last year’s theme, “Amplifying the leadership of persons with disabilities for an inclusive and sustainable future” on the United Nations website.
• Over 1 billion people in the world have some form of disability according to the United Nations. In the UK, there are 16 million disabled people.
• The spending power of disabled people and their households worldwide is currently estimated to be worth $13 trillion, increasing by 14% every year. Only 10% of businesses have a targeted strategy for this huge market.