International Disability Day
3rd December is International Disability Day.
There are 650 million disabled people around the world. Read on to find out more facts and figures on disability and how you can make a difference.
The numbers
- 70,000 people use British Sign Language as their first language (RNID)
- There are 9 million Deaf and hard-of-hearing people in the UK (RNID)
- There are 2 million people with visual impairment in the UK (RNIB)
- There are 1.5 million people with learning disabilities in the UK (Mencap)
- There are approx 500,000 people with autism in the UK (National Autistic Society)
- 1 in every 3 customers has a disability or has a close friend or relative who is disabled (Office of National Statistics)
- 18% of the UK population are covered by the Disability Discrimination Act (Family Resource Centre)
- There are 650 million disabled people in the world (World Health Organisation)
The Needs
- “Only 2% of all disabled children in developing countries receive an education” (World Health Organisation)
- “40% of disabled people felt that teachers had underestimated their ability” (Lamb & Layzell)
- “Disabled people are typically among the very poorest; they experience poverty more intensely and have fewer opportunities to escape poverty than non-disabled people” (Department For International Development, 2005)
- “The poverty rate for disabled adults is twice that for non-disabled adults” (Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2006)
In any country disabled people are the most likely to:
- Be victims of abuse
- Have poor health
- Be the victims of crime
- Be the least educated
- Be the poorest of the poor
- Not have heard the Gospel
Through the Roof wants all disabled people to fulfil their potential in God. Click on the headings below to find out how you can partner with us through:
- Praying for the work
- Follow this link to our ‘PRAYER’ page. - Donating financially
- Follow this link to our ‘DONATE’ page. - Getting involved as a volunteer with DCF holidays, Wheels for the World, young disabled people.
