International Day of Persons with Disabilities: Dis-ABILITY inclusion in Sudan

1 billion people worldwide have a disability, approximately 15 percent of the entire world population;

In Sudan, 15% of the population live with disabilities encountering in their every day lives social, physical and emotional barriers;

What is AICS doing?

AICS is engaged at creating a more inclusive and accessible society, in partnership with national and international actors, and in 2002 , the Italian Cooperation adopted the first Guidelines on disability, which, among the others, included a mapping exercise regarding the Italian initiatives in the sector.
“Today we are here to celebrate the Disability inclusion as an essential condition to upholding human rights, sustainable development, and peace and security. Our work is in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in particular for a quality education for all and reduction of inequalities in order "to leave no one behind” stated the Ambassador of Italy Michele Tommasi.

This year the International Day of Person with disabilities is about the overarching theme of innovation and transformative solutions for inclusive development, covering in three different interactive dialogues the following thematic topics:

• Innovation for disability inclusive development in employment (SDG8): right to employment, right to develop knowledge and skills;

• Innovation for disability inclusive development in reducing inequality (SDG10): right to access innovations, practical tools and good practices to reduce inequalities in both public and private sectors;

• Innovation for disability inclusive development: right to equity, innovation and employment.

“The general approach used by AICS in its work is the mainstreaming disability approach. We mainstream the topic of disability in all our interventions, but we are proud to have double track interventions such as INLAB aimed at supporting the integration and the economic empowerment of PwD”highlighted the head of AICS Khartoum, Michele Morana. “We strongly believe that each member of the society plays a fundamental role in promoting disability and each of us can contribute to the achievement of a more inclusive and accessible world. A world where we can finally be united in diversity”, concluded Morana.

Let us conclude by using a quote from a disabled actor and writer, Benjamin Snow: “Disability is natural. We must stop believing that disabilities keep a person from doing something. Because that’s not true . . . Having a disability doesn’t stop me from doing anything.”

Active participation, inclusion, accessibility, access to information, education and learning: once again they become the keywords to refer to on an important day like today.