A few days ago on December 1st most of us were probably aware World Aids Day was upon us again. Even blooming Pop Idol contestants wore red ribbons on their shirts. Back in November poppies represented memories of loved ones who periled in the War. December 3rd however was the International Day of Disabled Persons - Did you know about it? We didn't!
It's late morning on Sunday, we woke up, switched our PC on and there, on the MSN homepage was an article on the IDPwD. Hanging our heads in disgust we shamefully walked into our offices Monday morning and agreed to cover the event - one day late! So please accept our sincere apology for our complete balls up and read about what you have missed.
The IDPwD kicked off back in 1992, but still hasn't made much of an impact, could be because of its bad publicity on Disabled Awareness websites! December 3rd is always the set date - so, um, people don't forget it! The idea is to bring awareness to the talents disabled people have and their achievements. The whole thing predominantly happens in (Writer reads down the page on his belated press release) Australia. Hang on, Australia? - No wonder why we haven't heard much about it!
Why the hell is it called International then? ( Just get on with the bloody report! - Editor)
One in five Ozzies are disabled, which means that there should be more spazzies in 'Neighbors'. Only 53% of them are in work which doesn't shape up well with the 83% able-bodied employees. 8.6% are unemployed (5.0% - able-bodied).
To acknowledge achievements from disabled people the IDPwD is celebrated Worldwide on 3rd December, although the day still goes unnoticed in other countries. In 2005 Australia registered 1,8000 associated events. Although, here in the UK we were unable to find much news about any events taking place.
Back in OZ the government were involved organising events and publicity alongside non-governement organisations. Even though the event didn't officially take off until 1992 this years saw the 25th anniversary of the United Nations General Assembly proclaiming 1981 as The International Year Of Disabled Persons. Eleven years later the first International Day Of People With Disabilities was born.
2006's theme was E-Accessibilty focusing on communication with technology. Some websites still hold barriers with the blind and visually impaired. (Of course ABLE2UK offers a 'WebSight' page where our readers can click on the left hand link for larger print.) Another PC concern raised was that access to computers are still mostly dependent on a mouse.
Hopefully soon we will all relate December 3rd to IDPwD until then you will have to wait until December 4th 2007 when we apoligise again for missing the event for another year running!
