December 3 - International Day for Persons with Disabilities
Today December 3, 2015 marks 23 years since the United Nations Decade of Disabled Persons was held (1983 to 1992) to enable governments and organizations to implement measures to improve the life of disabled persons all over the world. The end of this decade ( October 14, 1992) witnessed the proclamation of the the UN General Assembly marking December 3 as the International Day of Disabled Persons. The name was later changed to International Day of Persons with Disabilities, and is observed around the world each year (Jamaica being no exception), to reaffirm and draw attention to persons who are living with a disability in our communities.
In Jamaica the Jamaica Council for Persons with Disabilities (an agency of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security with responsibility for the disability sector) observes this day as part of a week long of celebration, which began with a National Church Service November 29 at Ocho Rios Baptist. Over 400 persons with disabilities and reprsentatives from organizations which support persons with disabilities, were in in attendance.
